Author Archives: Naomi Nartey

My initial idea

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After the class experiment on Marina Abramovic’s Night…., I began thinking about the concept of stillness and how people react mentally, physically and emotionally. I began asking myself what were my own insecurities about myself, inwardly and outwardly and how an outsider, who has no inclination of what the meaning behind the performance would take on it.

In our groups, we individually came up with ideas for our performance and I followed on from Marina’s performance in staying still and what happens during a period of time in the same position. Instead of sitting we would be standing, separated across the room and members of the audience will come in without any  knowledge of what’s happening and can join us by staring at us.

By doing this I believe that it will bring the notion of insecurities within ourselves, the performers. Some of us may not like people starring at us for too long because we might not like a feature of our face, while others may be more confident in the way they look. During our experiment of Marina’s performance, I was intrigued by the various reactions the class had towards the trial. Some believed that their every thought was being seen or heard by their partner sitting across them, therefore bringing them out of their comfort zone.

Naomi

 

 

Techniques and Rehearsing Styles (2)

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Another technique I looked at was non-performatic texts, which is anything other than a theatrical script.

An example of this are:- Receipts, credit card statements, Flyers, take-away restaurant menus, Notes and reminders.

By looking at these form of texts in a performing style, creates a different manner of reading them and broadens one’s mind to plenty of theatrical opportunities.

 

Being able to  obey your own pre-decided rules in performance gave an outcome of interesting prospects.

The rules before experimenting through performance are:- The only lines you could say were words on non-performatic texts (eg. flyers, receipts, notes), if you wanted to speak you had to lie down, if someone picked up one particular object everyone had to laugh, the performance space only included the shade, you could not touch the sunshine with your foot.

By  experimenting and obeying these rules, for a few minutes,we were memorised in a captivating performance as everything was improvised and people were able to bring together their team working skills.

 

 

Techniques and Rehearsing Styles (1)

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Whilst we were experimenting different ideas leading up to our final performance, we have gone through a variety of rehearsing styles and techniques

Proto-Type Theatre

During our lesson we were able to experiment with Proto-type Theatre’s concept of performance by having three candidates sitting at a table, which had three microphones and three scripts laid out in front of the rest of the class. In performing this, there were a set of rules allocated. One was that the lines of  the script is not appointed to anyone, therefore any of the three candidates are allowed to read whatever line they liked. The second was that if two people  said the same line they should continue in unison and the final was that silence is also an important factor as well as the dialogue itself.

From an audience perspective I found watching this performance quite fascinating, as each line delivered would not and could not be performed again as the performers would be biased towards the lines because they would have to put on an act instead of it to flow naturally with natural responses.

The spontaneity presented in the performance was  something explored in our devising process especially in the audiences behaviour. An idea we came up for this was, in one out of the five stations we would have a place where the audience could write their feelings and we would write ours on a piece of paper and together place them in a box. We would have paper and pens and a placard explaining that if they wanted they can write something about themselves (any insecurities or a deep secret) and put it in a box which would not be opened at any time. Also we would have a station which offered some sort of beverage, handed to them directly from us which makes it impossible to experience the piece we were doing twice, for they had a knowledge of what was to come.

Naomi

“Sitting Still”

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Looking at what through performance, could push the limits of our body and minds.

 

Before we started this experiment, we were given an extract to read on by Marina Abramovic’s performance Nightsea Crossing which is a  durational piece that lasted for seven hours a day and was over a period of 90 days in variety of settings. In order for this performance to be successful, they had to get the right balance of equal personalities in order to create a piece that was meaningful to the both of them.

In this performance Marina and her college  devised a performance showing them exchanging air by locking their mouths and passing oxygen and carbon dioxide between each other.   They had only lasted for seventeen minutes and had collapsed because of their lungs being filled with carbon dioxide.

The spaces they used for the performance were in galleries and museums for seven hour days on the opening and closing times (10am – 5pm) of the galleries and museums.

The meaning behind this piece of performance is about experiencing the moment and connecting with the spectator. In this circumstance Marina and Ulay are sat on chairs, staring at each other, thus creating an atmosphere of energy that in-corporates the audience and making them aware that they are watching a performance.

In one of Marinas performance of Nightsea Crossing she invited the audience to take part and sit with her. This was part of her solo act. Here you were able to see some people get up and leave after a few minutes, whereas one audience member sat with her for the whole day. This brings to light, “the main interest…” in “the process of being sat motionless for a very, very long time” (Kaye, 1996, pg 183).

When it came to us re-enacting Marina’s Nightsea Crossing,  we followed the same concept of sitting across another person whilst keeping eye contact. However, we did not do it for seven hours as it was workshop related. The duration of this performance was 45 minutes. Once this task was completed we had a discussion of how the performance effected us and everyone had a vary of answers from mental to emotional manipulation, thinking that the person opposite yourself is reading your thoughts and bringing out the insecurities that you hid from the world into reality. Furthermore, we were in a studio with quite a number of us being part of the performance, but this did not hinder the concept of isolation, as if there was no one else in the room but you and your performing partner.

In addition to this, some people were able to remain focussed and sat still throughout, whereas, others needed to move about by adjusting their seating positions, some felt like crying and others were falling asleep. My personal experience, was trying to be mentally focused on the task given. At times I would falter by dozing off or start creating stories in my mind in order to while away the time. However, when I began to fall into that state, I would snap back reminding myself that I am performing. This made me analyse the concept of silence and the boundaries in which our minds and bodies can go beyond. Also, I began thinking what internal questions the audience members would have once they were in that environment. Would they pick  up on what was going on in the minds of the performer? Would they too start mimicking the performers slight movements if they were taking part in the act?

The notion of sight was the forefront in the performance, as we the performers subconsciously began mimicking our partner’s slight movements and mannerisms due to our visions becoming blurred and infusing our surroundings into one central point. I felt my partner and I imitating each other unconsciously like moving our head slightly and coughing or blinking. In regards to the blnking I could see that we were both blinking at the same time.

 

Naomi

Work Cited

Kaye, Nick (1996) Art Into Theatre London: Routledge