‘Confronted with multiple, and often interpenetrating narratives and voices, their audiences are invited to encounter the site in which these works are realised as re-framed and overlaid by narratives which challenge and draw on the place of their presentation’ (Kaye, 2013, pg. 53)

This is an example of the narratives that have been created for use within The Waiting Room. They are created on the basis of the room within the Grandstand being used as a Waiting Room, a general waiting room intertwined with personal feedback on what people themselves are waiting for as well as what they think the site is waiting for. The combination has allowed for very contrasting and insightful themes within the narratives.

Happiness

What does it mean to be happy? ‘Happy’ is different to every single person in the world. Happiness could be within a job, a place or with someone. Does everyone deserve to be happy? Those who bring terror and sadness to others, no. Have you ever been so happy you could cry? Cry, tears of happiness? One time. Can you remember the last time you were happy? Where were you? On your own or surrounded by people, noise and celebration? Do you have a happy place? Some where you go or visualise? Somewhere that makes you content. Is life about finding happiness? Do we need the bad parts of life to make the good times count? Is happiness such a thing without sadness? What does it mean to be happy?

‘Narrative is treated as another object to be manipulated, allowing it to pass ‘from person to person- and to thing, person to thing, thing to person’’ (Kaye, 2013, pg. 168)

References

Kaye, N. (2013) Site-Specific Art: Performance, Place and Documentation. London: Routledge.

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.

‘Audience may find themselves having to participate in other, tangible ways, often acting as an actor ‘substitute’, or even an agent to propel the action forward’ (Tompkins, 2012, pg 10)

In terms of drama performance, the role of the audience has transformed through time as well as through genre. Traditionally, the audience are usually observers, merely watching the action in front of them. However in more contemporary theatre/experiences, the audience are regularly used as active participants on a variety of different levels. The function and result of active participants has been debated frequently. Some say that this type of involvement ‘dislocates’ (ibid, pg. 10) the audience from the site and therefore the experience; whereas it can also be said to add a dynamic component, providing ‘the opportunity to embody the site’, (ibid, pg. 10) making it an experience in multiple ways rather than it being strict and limited.

From the very beginning of developing ‘The Waiting Room’, the piece has been heavily involved with audience participation and interaction. I personally feel that this element works for our piece; we are in control of the situation by using instructions but the audience could essentially change the outcomes, creating a fresh dynamic. Small details have changed throughout the weeks, as to the level of audience participation, but this was a component that has stuck to us and the process. Our performance will use 2 different kinds of audience. The first is an audience that are a part of the piece but mainly observe with the rest of the audience participating through instruction.

This week has found this element being progressed even further through introduction of narratives and dialogues. After showing our progress to tutors and members of the group in the last week of term, we were given a lot of feedback to improve our piece and in particular the use of the audience. We had already created narratives that we read out during the performance but it was later suggested that these narratives (and a lot more) were read out by audience members. This would give them a task and purpose as well some sort of identity within the piece.

The narratives we have created all link to the several uses of the space we’re performing in as a ‘waiting room’. Including topics such as waiting to give blood, waiting to test planes and waiting to view a dead loved one, we also linked in some of the answers of the public research questionnaire we developed in the first few weeks of the module. To create more narratives, we are going to be directly using the answers from this questionnaire as inspiration for writing, with topics being used such as religion, justice and happiness. We have split up the work of developing these narratives as it allows for creative differences and varied types of writing. With this narrative idea, alongside the audience physically partaking and interacting with others in the performance as it happens, our piece is built and eventually showcased around the audience. Whether that is if they know it or not, written or being there on the day, our piece is (will hopefully be) as interactive as it gets.

‘Whether site-specific performance is interactive or downright confronting, audiences are rarely able to participate passively’ (ibid, pg 10)

References

Tompkins, Joanne (2012) The ‘Place’ and Practice of Site Specific Theatre and Performance. [online] London: Palgrave Macmillian. Available from http://www.palgrave.com/PDFs/9780230364066.pdf [Accessed 5 April 2014]