After feedback we have decided to have our audience reading out narratives rather than us. These narratives will contain information about the many uses for the grandstand with a focus on the room we will perform in and waiting. These narratives are the ones that I have contributed to the performance. We are yet to decide which narrative are going to be used but decided to write a mixture and then decide at a later date which will be used. The post’A Cold March Morning’ is also narrative that may be used in performance.

WEDDING…

I vow to always be there.
To keep you safe when you need protecting and even when you don’t.
I vow to know when you need my help before you have to ask.
To catch you when you trip and put your feet back on the ground.
And I vow to always wait for you. To long for you. To need you.
To protect you. To guide you. To thrive with you.
To be your salvation, as you have always been mine.

TRENCHES…

The sky is that perfect shade of blue. The shade of blue that doesn’t hurt your eyes with its brightness and doesn’t feel dark with rain. The shade of blue that reminds you of summer’s day as a kid, flying kites and climbing trees. Scuffs on your knees and mud on your face but you couldn’t care less. You and the kids that lived on your street would stay out kicking a ball around until the street lights came on, and your mum would shout your name from the front door threatening to ground you if you didn’t come in for your tea and a bath.
Your knees today are also scuffed and you have mud not only on your face but on your entire self. The person shouting your name isn’t your loving mother, but the general that will without a doubt slap you if you don’t stop day dreaming about the colour of the sky and start digging the damn trench you are knee deep in.
You now wish you were still waiting to grow up. Still waiting to be 18, in the middle of a field, frozen cold, covered in mud, your muscles throbbing and your eyes watering. But then again you never expected this to happen. You never would have thought this is how you would be spending the last of your teenage years- Waiting for the war to be over.

When we decided that the theme of our performance was going to be waiting, we decided that it would be key for us to compile a list of what people were waiting for. Therefore, we decided to conduct public research. First of all, we went into Lincoln city center and asked a number of people what they were waiting for. Then we conducted an online survey and asked people what they were waiting for as well as what they thought the grandstand was waiting for.

These are some of the results we received from the survey-

What are you waiting for?

Waiting for a wedding.

Waiting to become a teacher.

Waiting for pay day.

Waiting for my dinner to go down so I can eat my Crunchie.

Waiting for a less stressful day at work.

Waiting to finish university, get married and have a family.

Waiting for summer.

Waiting to do a 12 hour lambing shift.

Waiting for the next chapter.

Waiting for happiness.

Waiting for my future to begin.

Waiting for my house to be built.

Waiting for my wife.

Waiting to be old enough to join the army.

What is the Grandstand waiting for?

A bulldozer.

Something new.

To be used again, like when the horse racing was there.

A new lease of life.

A grand event.

To be decorated.

A facelift.

A race.

A comeback.

To be noticed.

This information will help us devise the work with a better understanding of waiting.

This idea of using public research in performance was inspired by John Newling’s work, Where A Places Becomes A Site. This work took place in Broadmarsh shopping centre in Nottingham where a riddler jacket was hung from the ceiling and trailed along the floor. The audience were asked what they valued most and in return Newling gave them a question mark cut out from the jacket which was then pinned to their clothing. These values were then compiled into a script ready for live performance.

At this point we are not sure exactly how we are going to incorporate the research into our performance but we are keen to include it and see how it can improve our work.

As mentioned in a previous blog I set up an online survey to establish what the public were waiting for.  The answers varied and some were more helpful than others.  From the question “What are you waiting for? This could be a life event, something you are waiting to happen to somebody else, a world or society event, or simply a doctors appointment”  we chose 21 answers to put into narratives:

• The story of Willoughby Spendlow
• Waiting for your turn in carpet boules
• Mortuary waiting room
• Waiting to test planes
• Waiting for trench training
• Waiting to give blood
• Waiting for the next  race
• Waiting to praying
• Waiting for a wedding
• Waiting to become a teacher
• Waiting for pay day
• I’m waiting for my tea to go down before I eat my Crunchie
• Waiting for a less stressful day at work
• Waiting for my house to be built
• Waiting to finish uni and get maried and have loads of babies
• I’m waiting for the justice system to change (prison sentencing etc)
• Waiting for summer
• Waiting for the Next  Chapter
• Waiting to do a 12 hour lambing shift
• Waiting for happiness
• Waiting for my future to begin

We then selected some of the responses fpr what people think the grandstand is waiting for:

• a BULLDOZER
• something new
• To be used again like it was when the horse racing was there
• A new lease of life
• salvation
• a comeback
• a grand event
• a race
• recognition
• to be decorated
• facelift
• to become important again
• something ace
• to be noticed
• time to catch up
• people, noise, celebration
• love

We decided to merge some of these ideas together to create narratives that some of our audience members will carry out.  This will enhance the idea that we have different levels within our audience.  Participation from audience members is crucial to the running of the performance so while we have been planning we have been taking into consideration what we would do if we had any number of audience members for each performance.  In our last meeting we decided on a process in which the audience members will enter the room and be given a name tag and an envelope. The envelope with either contain an instruction or a narrative and this will decide the level of participation the audience will have.

We also discussed what would happen if an audience member refused to do what was in their envelope, whether that be follow an instruction or read out a narrative.  This in mind we are thinking about ways in which we would deal with that situation if it did arise.  We also need to think about how we will go about pre-warning the audience that they will need to participate.

This is a lot for us to think about, my next blog post will be after I have some answers or indeed approaches from other practitioners and theatre makers that we can be inspired by.