Appletite (performance name) has slowly morphed into a two-part performance installation involving two performers, yet one audience member. However the performance itself can still be classed as a One to One, with each performer inhabiting their own defined ‘space’ within the site. “One to One performances feel personal, and if we commit ourselves to them, they can affect us in a myriad of ways” (Zerihan, 2009, 3), especially when the performance pushes “the expressive capabilities and capacities of [its performers] body” (Pearson, 2010, 172).

Appletite is, for one part, my own personal response to the site. Although multiple audience members would physically be able to fit into the space, large numbers would diminish the intimacy between the narrative and spectator, creating an exploitation of my response rather than an inclusion. A One to One experience however would seem more intrusive (physically represented by my space being a toilet cubical); the exposure of my teeth and binding of my hands and feet forcing a personal exposure, whether it is wanted or not. “The potential of One to One performance to enable a shared and intense desire to connect, engage and discover another elucidates something about the ephemeral liveness of what might lure us toward this close encounter” (Zerihan, 2009, p.4). Thus audience members will have free will upon entering the site, encouraged by audio’s to ‘find’ me within the instillation and then choosing whether to stay or not.

In Mike Pearson’s In Comes I he states that there was no attempt to either emphasise previous functions of the building or to re-enact moments from its history when creating the performance Baroque (2001), and that the church’s architecture and atmosphere were revealed by what was brought to it (Pearson, 2006, 79). This creative process is similar to that of Appletites so far. We have not been exploring themes that explicitly relate to the Grandstand and its past inhabitants, but have imported an idea (apples) that alludes to such context: horses eat apples → when apples are eaten their core (Grandstand) remains → exposure of the apple’s core results in faster decomposition (neglect). Without our site however, this set-up would become insignificant… I now finally think I’m beginning to understand the value of site-specific performance!

References

Pearson, M. (2010) Site-Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Pearson, M. (2006) White House Yard. In Comes I: Performance, Memory and Landscape. Exeter:University of Exeter Press.

Zerihan, R. (2009) Introduction. Study Room Guide: One to one performance.