Sometimes creating a performance within a space can alter the image the audience had of it, “…people had a real familiarity with the space that was being worked with yet they were invited to experience the environment from a new perspective due to the performance that was enacted within it” (Govan, Nicholson and Normington, 2007, p.120). This can be for the better or for the worse or even just to make an audience aware of the potential the space had or has.

That same quote could be used to reflect on how a performance we did at the Grandstand caused the audience to feel different about the site space. Before I talk about the performance I must first explain how we found the inspiration for it…

Having learnt the grandstand could (or might) have been a mortuary, we ventured to the archives to delve further into the history of this somewhat mysterious building. Whilst at the archives we discovered a detailed plan showing the layout for the mortuary within the grandstand, as shown below.

                                                                    Mortuary plan, courtesy of the Archives (Lincoln)

Although we knew that a mortuary is what the building could have been used for, seeing the plan really made me think about the space and the layout of the grandstand. For example, they had planned to place the mortuary in a room where children now run around and play with toys. Witnessing the plan created more awareness of how close the grandstand was to becoming a mortuary, but there is no evidence either way to suggest it was or wasn’t a reality.

So for our performance we expanded on the chair performance which we did a couple of weeks ago. However this time we incorporated text. On post-it notes we wrote down sayings to do with death, sadness and the war. This allowed us to focus on the destruction the soldiers and families went through during World War II. The destruction could also be a metaphor for how, if the grandstand was used as a mortuary, the family friendly place it once was would no longer exist, destroying the grandstand’s family friendly image.

Our performance involved the performers walking through chairs that are knocked over as if something has ruined the site. The performers then slowly, and when they feel like doing so, lie down on the floor. This represents the victims of the war and highlights the area as a place where bodies could have lay. Then one-by-one the performers rise up and collects their shoes and find a post-it note which they then read out. Once they have done this, the performer proceeds to stand in front of the audience just staring emotionless. Once all performers are lined up they read out their post-it note again and put it on the post. They then walk into the kitchen and lie down on the floor (one-by-one) where I covered them, from the waist up, with their coats. Then another performer brought the audience into the kitchen and in this tiny cramped room the faces of the ‘bodies’ (the performers on the floor) where revealed whilst the audience were being asked if they recognised anyone.We chose to use the kitchen in our piece because we discovered it would have been the viewing room, according to the mortuary plans.

We wanted the audience to feel a part of the piece, that is why we made them feel like they were involuntarily in a room identifying bodies, similar to how the families of the World War II victim’s would have felt, “…the work is constructed so that the performers interact with the people who inhabit a particular place” (Govan, Nicholson and Normington, 2007, p.122). By having the audience crammed into a small room and showing them faces of people, as if they were dead, caused the grandstand to be seen as a dark place rather than the happy one it is depicted, through the brightly painted walls.

Through our research and performance we managed to give the audience a different view of the grandstand and one which will, hopefully, open their eyes to what could have been!

Work Cited:

Govan E., Nicholson H. and Normington K., ‘The Place of the Artist’ Making a Performance, Oxon: Routledge, 2007, p.120-135

The Mortuary Plan courtesy of the Archives in Lincoln.