Already we have had a few different ideas of what our performance could contain. However, we have also found reasons why these will not work. One idea that we have had came from the fact that Leanne wanted to do a one-to-one performance in which she could give her time to somebody else and feel intimate with them. This idea developed from there. We were going to each have a tent/den in which we would sit. Each of our tents would contain different things inside. Leanne’s would have a bed inside which she and the audience member would sit on. While in there she would give them her undivided attention and time in which they could do whatever they wanted, whether it was to just talk to her or even cuddle her. Jess’ tent would contain a bed and a chair. She would sit on the chair and the audience would sit on the bed and then they would talk about anything that was troubling them, similar to a therapy session. Demi’s tent would surround ideas of the female body while Jordan’s would include telling ghost stories. We were going to use beds as an option as they are often seen as a place of comfort. However, while reviewing this idea we decided that it would not work, due to a few reasons. Firstly it was too similar to Adrian Howell’s Foot Washing for the Sole and then there was the fact that it just felt like there was too much happening and as if we had over complicated it. Therefore we stripped back the idea.
So going back to the idea of human contact without an agenda , we decided to experiment with how the spectator would react if the performers were missing a sense. Every member of the group had their own personal space for spectators to share their time with, for example for Demi’s section she would be blindfolded, so she would be unable to see the spectator.
We developed other problems with this idea. Look for the next post ‘Commitment’ which will explain in depth why we then also decided against this idea and to use the core concept to experiment with more.
Despite the fact we have experimented and developed our ideas so much, we have come to realise that we should not be too worried as that is what this module expects from us. The module is called Contemporary EXPERIMENTAL Performance; highlighting the fact we should be experimenting with different ideas.