Somewhere Like Home

MOVING HOME

2008-10-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

I have a new blog:

richobject.wordpress.com

Lament of the Noise Makers

2008-09-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

I will be constructing a string machine called Lament of the Noise Makers at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff as part of the Experimentica Festival. The space will be open from 2pm - 10pm on Monday to Wednesday (13/10/08 - 15/10/08) finishing with a destructive performance on Wednesday evening at 9.30pm.

It consists of a shambolic orchestra of things: Buzzers, Konks, Crashes, Horns, and Animals, controlled by a wardrobe and animated by a conductor who has wandered in from an entirely different concert . The machine will be Constructed from the detritus of shows once performed, in process, and never realised.

Please visit the link to Chapter (opposite) for more information.

I have a lot to report from what is the first year of my part-time PhD at Aberystwyth. This blog has been somewhat neglected so I have some catching up to do. I intend to return to several key moments of practice and the papers I have given from the past year to bring it up to date. These include:

Performing The Galapagos Man at the NRLA (Tramway Glasgow)
The string machine Meret which was constructed as part of an Artist Residency at Theatre Materials/Material Theatres CSSD London. And the accompanying paper Object as Postdramatic Gesture.
A paper on Theatre Machines given at the Conference Objects Of Engagement, Royal Holloway, London.
The building of the string machine Lament of the Noise Makers in the Foundry Studio, Aberystwyth.
The forthcoming performance of a version of Lament of the Noise makers at Experimentica, Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.

Each one of these moments of practice and theoretical papers are being treated at as individual ‘etudes’ (Cabinets for the case of exhibition) for my ongoing thesis, which as expected has gone through several stages of refinement since my last report.

2008-06-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Starts Thursday 26th June. Aberystwyth's first monthly live art, music and tombola night. Six PhD students and Artists have joined forces to produce the event. I will be performing in the showroom band as well as building the showroom sculpture: a hybrid of a 1920's shop mannequin and CCTV camera system.

PhD Progress Report

2008-03-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

I am working towards three components to present as my thesis:

Written Component (Approx 40 -60k)

Divided into two parts:

Part 1: A contextual study of the theory, construction, and performance of the Bio-Object in the theatre of Tadeusz Kantor:

Introduction: The Door of Cricot 2 (An Entrance) at 5 Kanonicza Street, Krakow.
Object 1: The School Bench from The Dead Class (1975)
Object 2: The Wardrobe from Dainty Shapes and Hairy Apes (1973)
Object 3: The Death Machine from The Madman and the Nun (1963)

These objects will be considered through the analytical framework of Postdramatic theory and the philosophical implications of making the object perform through the notions of Stasis, Ghosts and Possession.

Part 2: Taking this contextual study as a framework the second part will contain a written analysis of the application of this theory through the construction and performance of a contemporary Bio-Object. As in Part 1, the analysis will be considered from the perspective of the objects themselves. The Bio-Object will take the form of a String Machine (A concept that is unpacked through the exhibition and made explicit through the final performance)

Reference will be made to the work presented at the exhibition and final performance. In this respect a supporting DVD of exhibition material and footage of the performance will be submitted with the written component.

Exhibition

Through a series of residencies, workshops and performative presentations I intend to explore the practical and artistic considerations involved in constructing a contemporary Bio-Object leading towards a final performance.

The documentation of these accumulative events will be presented in an exhibition that will be presented in conjunction with the final performance. This documentation of the practice will be assembled under the rubric of ‘the collection’. This means the objects, DVD documentation, photographs, inventories; notebooks etc. will be collected, arranged and displayed as artefacts of the performance event.

Final Performance

This will consist of the realisation of a contemporary Bio-Object in the form of a string machine. The exemplar performance will be a result of the practical application of theory expressed through the written component and the accumulative events presented at exhibition.

Forthcoming practice 2008

Artist residency at Theatre Materials/Material Theatres conference for The Centre for Excellence in Training for Theatre at Central School of Speech and Drama.

Duration: 14 – 18th April 2008
Visit http://www.cssd.ac.uk/cett/ for more information.

The residency will be based around the creation of a string machine in a studio within The Central School of Speech and Drama. The title of the project is - Priming the String Machine: The Object as Postdramatic Gesture.

Although the residency will contain a degree of response to the space at Central, the overall content of the work has been predetermined. To further the notion of the memory theatre as part of what might constitutes a Bio-Object I have decided to return to a specific element of an earlier performance work The Lightning Conductor (2005). The element of which I will return to, is an object used within the show: A mink fur wrap worn by the character of Meret. Therefore the string machine will be constructed from the perspective of the mink fur. (Image documentation of The Lightning Conductor can be found at http://www.museumoftheend.com/ - the mink fur can be seen around Meret’s neck)

A number of objects have been assembled to respond to this notion including several duplicate mink furs and a number of miniature puppets of the character of Meret. The voice of the actress who originally played the character will be taped and inserted into the machine.

These ideas are intended to set a playful framing to approach and to give a structure in which to make decisions that have a dialogue with a pervious performance event. Therefore the objective of the residency is focused on the progress of the form rather than allowing the content to dictate.

Further objectives of residency:

1) To gather progressive audience feedback of perceptions and engagements with the apparatus outside of a formal performance event (specifically the perspective of an audience who have never encountered the work before)
2)To implement a more sophisticated control apparatus allowing for a greater degree of finesse during manipulation; to build fishing reels and other winding mechanisms into the control system; to realise a table mechanism that is currently at the design stage.
3)To start exploration into the practical implications of integrating the miniature within the string machine.
4)To initiate the notebook system as a form for recording the process of practice.
5)To develop a model for future residencies through quickly assembling a working string machine in an unknown space and therefore gaining a heightened understanding of the form.

The residency is structured as following:

3-days Response and construction.
1-day Performative Workshop.
1-day Performance Presentation.

Conference Paper at Theatre Materials/Material Theatres.

I will present a 20 minute paper at the conference titled: Performing the Object/Avoiding the Subject: The Object as Postdramatic Gesture. The paper will contextualise the work presented during the residency and introduce the wider exploration of my PhD research into the possibilities of approaching object manipulation through a postdramatic form as exemplified by Kantor.

Notebook System

I have devised a notebook system that it is intended to document and notate the process of performance practice. The notebooks will be accessible through Exhibition and as an appendix to the written component. They will organise the multiple facets of practice as well as becoming an integral part of the apparatus of the total ‘thing’ that constitutes the Bio-Object. In this regard they will serve as the assembly instructions of the Bio-Object presented through the final performance.

Notebooks:

- Object
- Intentionality/Animation
- Totem
- Experimental Text (Outside the Morgue of Fame)

I will expand upon this in due course.

Roaming Memory Theatre

The roaming memory theatre is a form intended to present a (re) appearance of the theatre work The Galapagos Man through a miniaturised roaming toy theatre. The toy theatre is built on top of one of the original items of set. This item (a table on wheels) becomes a form of ‘roaming machine’ that acts a memory theatre of the original production.

Technical Considerations:

§ The ‘roaming machine’ is completely self-contained and pushed around by a nurse who will instruct audience members about viewing.

§ The roaming machine can be adapted for performance in any space and has the potential to be taken outside of the gallery space, onto the streets and surrounding area. This adaptation can be done by the company through a site visit prior to performance or in consoltation with the venue.

§ At certain intervals the machine will play out a miniaturised version of The Galapagos Man. Each performance will take approx 10 minutes.

§ The lights and tape recorders on the machine are all battery powered.

§ The machine is 1.5m x 0.7m x 1m. The performance can be adapted to the area in which it is placed.

§ No technical assistance is required when performing – a space for some assembly is needed before the performance starts.

§ A framing of the performance as a memory theatre will be provided to the audience through a small sensory-programme that is handed to each spectator (if they choose to take one)

I am currently applying to various Live Art Festivals to enquire if they can accommodate this promenade style performance.

Theatre Materials/ Material Theatres

2008-02-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Great News! The company have been offered a residency at the Central School of Speech and Drama between April 17 – 18 2008. The residency is called, Priming the String Machine: The Object as Postdramatic Gesture and will form part of the conference Theatre materials/Material Theatres.

Lightning Conductor Pictures

2008-02-13T09:56:00.001-08:00

I have finally got hold of the Lightning Conductor images from 2005. It is a shame that this is the only documentation of the show we have (although there is a version of the total Ed. show floating around Japan on a cable channel...need to track it down) I would like to return to the 'lighthouse series' someday and fully realise my ideas for the show - 10ft high document puppets and all. I also miss working with a large group - if any of you want to beinvoled in the next project (starting in April - more to follow..) then let me know.

I SHALL DEFINE IT ONCE AND FOR ALL!

Aberystwyth Bound!

2007-11-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

Relaxing with friends in Aberystwyth

I have begun my new job as research assistant to the head of the Theatre, Film and Television Studies department at the University of Aberystwyth. The department has a massive student population and what appears to be a very active research culture focused around the CPR (Centre for Performance Research), which is like a state of the art bond villain style command centre for performance research. The centre has a staggering collection of material, especially Kantorian - which is nice. The post is part of a studentship within the department where I will be teaching undergraduate students as well as starting my practice based PhD. The rapid move from MA to PhD has proven very beneficial as I feel as if my MA research can just continue in the same direction. For the first few months I will be reading around the areas outlined in my proposal to try and define the focus of the theory and continue preparations for The Galapagos Man’s trip to the National Review of Live Art in February. I have put my current PhD proposal below:

Performing the Object/Avoiding the Subject: The Object as Postdramatic Gesture.

The question of an OBJECT
An object in theatre is almost always a prop.
There is something offensive in this name for the OBJECT.
A HUMAN and an OBJECT. Two extreme poles.
Almost enemies. If not enemies, they are strangers.
A human desires to know the object, “touch” it,
appropriate it.
There must be a very close, almost biological symbiosis between an
actor and an object.
They cannot be separated.

Tadeusz Kantor, from The Eighth Insegnamento (1988), 1993:240.

Hans-Thies Lehmann’s Postdramatic Theatre (1999) seeks to define a language that articulates the relationship between conventional dramatic models and the ‘no longer dramatic’ forms of avant-garde theatre that have emerged since the 1970s. Lehmann’s study considers these forms by analysing aspects of their central aesthetics, aspects of space, time, body and text. Significantly he only suggests at the role of the object. The utilisation of the object as part of postdramatic aesthetics is introduced only through a wider investigation of the theatre of Taduez Kantor. This is perhaps due to Lehmann’s primary focus on the mediatised image, framing his reading of postdramatic aesthetics through the emergence of media within performance and how contemporary postdramatic theatre has become characterised by it.

Taking Lehmann’s study as a point of departure this PhD seeks to attend to the notion of how the object, outside of virtual manipulation, has the potential of being used as part of a postdramatic form. It will consider how an object might be performed as a postdramatic gesture through its materiality and how it is appropriated within the theatre. It will therefore frame the object as a visceral and tactile ‘thing’ that is physically and not virtually present in performance.

Mapping the territory: Subject/Object relations.

Central to understanding and subsequently defining what makes an object perform or become part of a postdramatic gesture is how it attends on the question (and tensions) of the subject/object relationship within that theatre. The aim is to build an argument towards a theatre of objects, a theatre that defines for itself what objectification is and how it impacts upon how it is performed. Therefore, the theoretical study of the PhD will predominantly focus on how subject/object relationships are defined and played out in postdramatic forms.

Lehmann’s allusion to the object within the theatre of Taduez Kantor will be central to this argument. It will address what Lehmann defines as “Stasis/Ghosts” (2006:58) presence with Kantor’s work, looking in detail at the Metaphysical presence of the object, and the psychological effect of uncanny doubling within his theatre.

Kantor’s theatre of objects seeks to redefine the subject-object relationship. Through redefining the sacred, Kantor’s theatre shifts towards how an objective transcendental presence (represented through the objects) becomes integrated with the subjective presence of the actors and Kantor himself. It can be argued that this form side step’s the subjective principles of modernity and moves towards a postmodern notion of what Guignon defines as “de-centring the subject” (2005:107) where there exists a “rethinking [of] humans as polycentric, fluid, contextual subjectivities, selves with limited powers of autonomous choice” (2005:107).

Therefore Kantor’s work will be framed within the historical and critical contexts of how the thinking around the subject/object relationship in performance has reached this position. The areas that concern this contextualising are:

- Premodern worldview of the object: The sacred object, the use of the object in rituals and early performance (ceremonial use of the object).

- The sovereignty of the subject in modernity. Modernist initiatives into reframing the theatrical object: Edward Gordon Craig, Theatre of the Bauhaus.

- Postmodern attitudes towards the subject, specifically anti-humanist discourses: the challenge of subjectivity.

The theatre of objects is therefore not just a theatre that contains objects or a theatre that objectifies its participants. A theatre of objects interrogates the very notion of the human subject through its form rather than its content. It is a theatre that operates beyond the conventional models of performance, models that only seek to confirm existing notions of how the subject-object relationships work. It is through the puppet and performing object, theatrical forms that speak uniquely to these questions, that a theatre of objects can exist and thrive. If such forms have a future we must look to ways of reinventing them, like Kantor. Only then can such forms attend to the issues of an increasingly fragmented and paradoxical cultural landscape in which theatre operates.

All aspects of theory will revolve around how appropriate they are to postdramatic theory. Therefore strands of these contexts can be drawn out and expanded upon and will form the basis for practical experimentation. These contexts need to be more clearly focused but this can only be achieved when further work has been done around each area.

Methodology

Once the theoretical contexts are more clearly focused, strands will be drawn out to explore practically.

The decision to challenge the virtual by arguing towards the utilisation of the visceral, sensory, and metaphysical dimension of the object has been driven by my own practice and experimentation as the director of a theatre company. Therefore the PhD will be practice lead, practically exploring how objects might be framed, manipulated, and integrated with performers and spaces to attend to the questions posed by the theoretical study. I will continue to take the role of director, leading a series of projects with performers, puppeteers, and designers, conducting workshops and devised performances that play out the concerns of the research. I have already formed established relationships within my company with a number of practitioners and artists and I will also be seeking to forge new relationships with undergraduate and postgraduate students who have appropriate research interests. These projects will be devised to address specific aspects of my research questions and adapted to the resources and situation of the department in which it is undertaken. Due to the nature of the research, the practice is concerned with using simple technology, reframing forms such as conventional puppetry and the use of domestic and found objects. The workshops and performances will then be documented appropriately (Journals, seminars, DVDs etc) and presented in support of a written thesis.

References

Guignon, Charles, On Being Authentic. London: Routledge, 2004.

Kantor, Tadeusz, A Journey Through Other Spaces. Essays and Manifestos 1944-1990. Edited and translated by Michael Kobialka. London: University of California Press, 1993.

Lehmann, Hans-Thies, Postdramatic Theatre. London: Routledge, 2006.

Galapagos Images

2007-08-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Programme Notes

2007-07-18T07:08:00.000-07:00

I have just finished reading this small but perfectly formed book published by the Live Art Development Agency and I would highly recommend it.

Here is the blurb on the website of Unbound - where you can buy it for a reduced price (I have put a link to the site in my links bar):

Programme Notes: Case studies for locating experimental theatre is a collection of case studies, interviews and essays which explores the ways in which contemporary theatre is changing through new relationship between mainstream venues and experimental practices. Programme Notes is a unique resource reflecting models of exciting and innovative collaborations at work across the UK.

Contributions by: Lyn Gardner, Tim Etchells, Neil Bartlett, Stella Hall, John McGrath, Alan Rivett, Mark Borkowski, Rose Fenton, Brian Logan, Lucy Neal, Keith Khan, Simon Casson, Louise Jeffreys, Judith Knight, and Toni Racklin.

Here is a quote from Tim Etchells that I particularly like the sentiment of:

Inside the theatre there are only the performers and the audience.

Onstage the performers will have some material items - this night's variation on flimsy or not-so-very flimsy scenery, plus props, costumes and whatever other stuff. The audience, for their part, will most likely have their coats, their handbags and the contents of their pockets but that's all - aside from the performers, the audience and the stuff they each have with them that' s really all there is. The whole of the rest of the world- its physical locations and landscapes, its entire population, its complete set of objects and all of its very very many unfolding events, large and small, significant and banal - is invariably outside this room, this place, emphatically absent.

I like the the concise nature of the book and the way it brings together a current discourse about the location and situation of experimental theatre and the position it is in - posed to trample over the ever present theatrical mainstream of social realism (ITS STILL HERE!).

All we need is for the audiences, critics, and funding bodies to teeter it over the edge.

Things On Wire

2007-07-04T11:58:00.001-07:00

I have spent the second day devising by setting up various systems of wires that can control the many objects that we are working with in an attempt to start building the 'acting machine' that will form the central dynamic of the space.

Table Trauma: Images from the first day of devising

2007-07-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Devising Galapagos: Day 1

2007-06-25T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today I started devising, working with the text and many ideas that surround the play. It made me realise how difficult it is to work alone, not having the dynamic of a group to work through problems with. The majority of the work I did involved the placement of sound within and around various objects to give a sense of sound admitting from them. This worked quite successfully but I feel that the strength of such placement is within the number of tape machines used, having two or three admitting a similar sound, placed around the room in different objects creates a multiple and eerie presence. I liked working with the crude technology of cassette tapes as they are surprising loud and have a disturbing inevitability as once they begin they can't be easily skipped. They are much more tactile then digital formats and will be central to how the work progresses.

Reading through a lot of the text I had written it became clear that a lot of it has become inappropriate due to the reduced time I can work with the actors. I also realised how many different voices that existed within it, some quite arrogant and unfounded. As a result I have chosen just several sections to expand upon.

Anti-Humanistic Bugs

2007-06-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

Over the last month I have been moving between the British Library and my bug infested attic room (it over looks a very bug filled river) trying to define my research question and formulate an argument... and I think I am getting there.

My research question has moved away from focusing on my own practice and has become a piece of independent critical writing. I have had difficultly in trying to pare it down because of this shift in focus, but it is now based around the the essay that originally initiated my interest in 'object theatre': Henryk Jurkowski's Towards a Theatre of Objects. In the essay Jurkowski alludes to a 'third genre' of theatre that (in 1988) was potentially emerging between puppet and actors theatre, (essentially an 'object theatre'). My thesis picks up from this, asserting that this third genre has not fully yet emerged and makes a claim that anti-humanism might point to how it could be achieved. It is a way of theoretically playing out the ideas I hope to apply in practice and actually discern an argument bridging the gap between anti-humanism and puppet/object theatre.

I realised the connection emerging as Jurkowski argued that the puppet had shifted from its sacred ritualistic roots to a secularist object in the hands of the actor. There are infinite permutations within this shift but at the secularist extreme the actor as 'creator' is placed at the centre of the actor/puppet relationship as total controller. Philosophically, this could be interpreted as the playing out of a humanist ontology. The 'third genre' through anti-humanism is therefore questioning how an understanding of an anti-humanist discourse could be applied to 'level the field' between the actor and the puppet, re-instating the theatrical (and perhaps the fetish/shamanistic) roots of the puppet - forcing the presence of the human body to become a equal (or sometimes lesser - or greater) exponent to the object of the puppet. This will allow for an increased tension between the puppet/object and the performer and ultimately an objectification of the actor.

I would regard Kantor's theatre as being the closest to actually realising a similar relationship between object and performer (it could be argued that his theatre has a strongly anti-humanistic approach combined with an almost religiously pro-humanitarian intent)

I am looking forward to trying to let this theory transcend my practice - if indeed it is possible. It is one thing theorising, and another to apply. Back to the bugs....

Galapagos Update 2

2007-05-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

Meeting with Liz on Thursday was very productive and confirmed my belief that practically trying out the ideas of the first draft of the script is essential. We were able work (in a cluttered studio) on defining a character and role that Liz will play. The decisions taken have completely made me reassess the writing I have done thus far. As a result I have started a 2nd draft, which seeks to focus some of the many ideas and languages that are at play in the text. This will be expanded on during the diploma stage presentation next Thursday.

Good luck to all VLP students presenting on Tuesday, I am sorry I will miss the work but I am going to Manchester for a two-day workshop with Ronnie Burkett, exploring the writing and dexterity of text for puppets.

Grab it hard...

Galapagos Puppet Development

2007-04-30T06:54:00.000-07:00

Puppet and mask made by Kasia for the Galapagos Man

A critical part of the writing process has been the simultaneous development of the objects that are to be used, both puppets and adapted found objects. Kasia has been producing a very subtle and delicately crafted set of puppets for use in the devising process (see pictures) that have already started to inform the writing.

The Danger Of Monsters Part 1

2007-04-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

The text for the Galapagos Man is steadily growing to over 37 pages and now the devising process can begin. I am finding myself constantly redrafting and reconfiguring the material and several sections are becoming increasingly complex (in sub-textual meaning rather than action). I expect this process of re-drafting to continue and develop as the practical work begins. I had a meeting with Joe (who will play the 2nd Inspector) yesterday which confirmed my thinking that the work has become densely packed and it will now be the task of directing this theatre to unpack the text and transform it into a physical action that can engage and immerse an audience. Joe and I talked about how we might approach the acting. This is a critical consideration for how the play might work. We spoke about how through our pervious productions we had developed techniques to bridge the difficulties in being ‘honest’ about the actions and lines we were performing even if they made no motivational sense, while simultaneously performing them ‘in character’. I suggested we re-visit these techniques, a form of ‘non-acting’ and I reminded Joe of what Tim Etchells wrote about writing personas not characters – and how this might inform our approach. With this in mind it is perhaps also useful to consider Tadeusz Kantor’s attitude to acting, as he stated:

wish for a situation
in which one could discard so-called acting
(supposedly the only way for an actor to behave ‘on stage’)
which is nothing more than
naïve pretence,
exulted mannerism,
irresponsible illusion!

Here is the current object inventory for the play (that takes the place of a traditional character list)

Object Inventory:

A Bird Cage
An Old Blue Kettle
2 Blood Pumps
2 Body Bags
2 Tiny Body Bags
1 Bottle of Stage Blood (1 litre)
5 Onions
2 Box Office Attendants/Sanitising Nurses
2 Long Tree Cutters 100 Blue Labels
1ST Inspector
2ND Inspector
1ST Inspector Miniature Double (Puppet)
2ND Inspector Miniature Double (Puppet)
The Galapagos Man
The Violinist
The Mother’s Body and Legs
The Mother’s Face (Strained)
The Mother’s Face (Screaming)
The Mother’s Chest
The Mother’s Arms
The Mother’s Voice (Taped)
I Small Camp Stove
2 Cans of Camping Gas
Small Frying Pan
1 Box of Matches
16 Bandages
2 Pairs of Pyjamas
Marv (Puppet)
Darwin the Finch (Puppet)
Dog Dog (Puppet)
Shift Board
MacBook
Printer
Vivisectionist’s equipment (to be defined)
1 Box of Latex Gloves (100)
Alcohol gel (Two Bottles)
Drum Kit
Bass Guitar
Bass amplifier
3 Chairs
2 Tables
A Microphone
Amplifier
2 Tape Records

To be expanded and reduced indefinitely.

Now the process of turning these things into a performance begins.

BAC SAVED (?)

2007-03-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

Looks like good news regarding the future of the BAC. Have a look at the Guardian article:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2007/03/looks_like_bac_is_going_to_be.html

SOUNDING CHARACTER: DAY 1

2007-03-19T16:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some images from Day 1 of my writing exercise in the Centre for Drawing. Please feel free to come and vist tomorrow (Tuesday 19th 10am -7pm).

Galapagos update

2007-03-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

I have been immersing myself in researching and writing for the Galapagos man and making good progress. Current research is centred on graphic novel science fiction (of the Dan Dare ‘vision of the future’ ilk) as well as the badly drawn illustrations and signage that accompany 1970s Mid-West American travelling freak shows. Kasia’s research into sensory design is also being folded into the ‘object directions’ that accompany the scripting of which is a very productive way of working. Writing is usually a solitary endeavour but I am currently enjoying the openness within a collaborative process, giving my text up to critical scrutiny and also being open to feed in alternative ideas during its creation. I am now itching too start to put some of the script on its feet but have learnt from past experience that I must complete at least a rough first draft of the script before this can be fully committed to. This is not to say I have not been sounding ideas and playing with various objects and arrangements but I am yet to have a full rehearsal.

Sounding Character

Next week in collaboration with Lizzy (acting as dramaturg) I will conduct a sustained period of writing and sounding the script in The Centre for Drawing. This exercise will be open to the public so I would welcome anyone to come and observe and feedback. I will post a specific VLP time for this (will probably be Tuesday evening).

The Galapagos Project

2007-02-22T05:18:00.000-08:00

Following our recent seminar I have been giving the notion of reduction a lot of thought. I was vocally questioning of Doug’s insistence to find a single core idea at this stage mainly due to the way that I work dictates that exploration unearths the thrust of what my theatre maybe ‘about’. I always try to avoid imposing a particular single purpose or meaning to the work, I find that the best work is chanced upon, that it emerges unexpectedly from setting up the right circumstances in which it may occur.

If anything my theatre has been concerned with trying to define itself, questioning the conventions and conditioning that is brought to a theatrical event, pushing the notion of character, jarring expectation and most importantly creating a heightened bizarre and ambiguous world in which the audience can inhabit and be pushed around in.

However I confess I was wrong to think this as an absolute. Contrary to Doug’s assertion that students are told to try anything I have always been taught to reduce, focus and find a nucleus for the work that can serve as the motor. I totally agree with this. As a director you are always trying to locate that ‘geustus’ that can saturate every moment, movement, and object that acts at a kind of metaphysical glue that transcends every aspect of the play and will hopefully spill over to the audience. I admit I was wrong to question this yesterday, It is exactly what at this stage we all need to be doing, just because you reduce does not mean within that reduction you can not discover the moments and dynamics that are chanced upon. It is what I intend to do, and indeed have been doing over this term. I have been working very hard on trying to define my theatre, my objects, and my approach. I would like to share my current process and hope to continue an idea of reduction.

My new work is presented under the title ‘ The Galapagos Project’ which will contain a series of street performances as preparation for, and promotion of, a full-length performance piece called The Galapagos Man, which will be presented as my final work. The Galapagos Man is a twisted tale set in an undisclosed near future in London. In the traditions of Pop Sci-fi Graphic Novels and Orwellian style distopia it takes on the theme of the victimisation of the individual (the sense of self - who am I?) by the state (imposed systems) and the unrelenting flux of national and global culture. With this notion at its centre it is also a meditation on the fate of human evolution. In an age of scientific discovery reaching stratospheric advancement and technological achievement (I think mainly of genetics) how will Darwin’s theory react to so much meddling by man? The planet is already reacting violently to human interference. The story will be told about a tragic anti-hero at the centre of a Government cover up from the perspective of two Inspectors who are sent to untangle the trail and ultimately end the life story of The Galapagos Man.

Over the past weeks I have been working on a text to find a shape to how the performance might work and also I have been making prototypes of objects that might be used using construction techniques that I have never worked with before. I am hoping to start practically working with both the text and objects as soon as possible,

Although I have chosen not to take part in the TBW show as I have being feeling fine art saturated and strongly feel that my work does not exist in a gallery, I will be scratching the various ‘shifts’ that occur within the play, bringing in some actors to work with, maybe even setting up some open rehearsals so anyone can come and contribute to the process.

Devoted and Disgruntled

2007-01-30T04:45:00.000-08:00

I would just like to draw attention to the report of ‘Devoted and Disgruntled’ that has been put on the improbable website (www.improbable.co.uk). The event took place earlier this month at the BAC (SAVE BAC!) where Theatre makers, critics, and funding bodies from all disciplines came together to discuss the current state of British Theatre, the positives, the negatives, and what can be done to improve it. The Guardian Online has also covered the event. The report is long and a little obvious in places (in respect to it areas covered) but I think it is worth wading through and carefully considering. It may also be worth considering how VLP can add a voice to the debate.

TOWARDS A THEATRE OF OBJECTS: Updated Proposal

2007-01-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

The Violence of Transformation: A praxis based investigation into the use of the object in performance.

Theatre is transformation. It is a vision created by an artist transforming… himself or a puppet or even an object into an imagined character.

Henryk Jurkowski 1988:37

The essential thing about theatre is transformation. Dying. And the fear of this last transformation is general, one can rely on it, one can depend on it.

Heiner Muller cited in Postdramatic Theatre by Hans-Thies Lehmann. 2006:47

To argue towards a theatre of objects is to argue towards a theatre of objectification, a theatre without subjects. A theatre without subjects is totalised, it’s participants (both performer and spectator) and the objects (costumes, props, puppets etc.) are all collectively acting as one in the event. This notion of theatre is typified in Ritual performance. The Italian Fascist spectacle of 18BL (1933) a “theatre of the masses for the masses” (Schnapp, Book Title, 1996) is a terrifying example of how such a theatre of objects can be realised with an audience of over 20,000 sharing in the event. Robin Hardy’s film The Wicker Man (1973) can be seen as another example of how ritualism can collectivise its participants that can drive them to barbaric action. At the heart of both these Ritual performances is an object, a unifying centrepiece, a focus. In 18BL it is a fiat truck of the same name, a symbol of fascist military power (which takes on a personality in the performance) and the giant figure of the wicker man who is ceremonially burnt. From an ethnographical standpoint, it is not surprising that puppetry, like all theatrical forms have roots in human ritual. It is not my intention to dissect theses examples but use them to begin too establish what is meant by a ‘theatre of objects’ (beyond a theatre that just contains objects) and to establish a context from which to develop the argument that currently concerns me: the moment of transformation from inanimate to animated.

To turn a dead object/puppet into something that has an illusion of life requires a process of transformation. This process of transformation relies on the investment of both the performer and the spectator in the believed life of the object. I purpose that this process of transformation is inherently violent, that through interaction with objects we are allowed to play out desires or project erotic, sadomasochistic, or brutal actions. There are of course varying levels to this violence and complex variations, not every encounter will appear ‘violent’. It is the goal of my research to extract evidence in support of these convictions. There are clear parallels that can be drawn in the transformations that occur in totalised Ritual performance that also suggests a collective violent undercurrent.

My research will be predominantly practice lead but I wish to establish a dialogue between what is produced in the studio and the development of my theoretical arguments. I will begin my exploration with two contextualising chapters that will locate my work within the traditions of critical debate surrounding the use of the object in performance. Firstly the discourses of modernism, where arguments of replacing the actor with an object first emerged and followed by a more in-depth study of the theatre of Tadeusz Kantor, who’s use of animated objects sidestep modernist notions and present a more integrated “dialogue between people and objects” (Lehmann 2006:73). I will briefly introduce the ideas of this contextualising.

CHAPTER 1
The Modernist Junction Box: In Search of the Ideal Actor.

…The absence of the human seems to me essential. When a human appears in a poem, the great poem of his presence dims everything around him. A man can only speak in his own name; he has no right to speak in the name of the dead.

Maurice Maeterlinck Cited in Jurkowski 1998:20

Puppet and object have long provided a radical appeal to the avant-garde, the experiments of modernist theatre embraced the plastic aesthetic of the puppet as an opposition to naturalist theatre. It is due to the initiatives of modernism embracing the potential that has provided the foundation for contemporary uses of puppetry. Along with the work of Maeterlinck I will consider the pioneering theories of Edward Gordon Craig and the Uber Marionette who demanded the immediate removal of the actor from the stage and replace it with another presence.

CHAPTER 2
Tadeusz Kantor: Ceremony and The Theatre of Death.

The mannequin as EMPTY object. The DUMMY. A message of DEATH. A model for the actor.

Kantor in ‘The Theatre Of Death: A Manifesto’ in The Twentieth-Century Performance Reader Ed. Huxley and Witts, 2003:253

Kantor’s theatre is a significant departure from the theories of the Uber Marionette as he does not discriminate against the actor but unties object and living presence in the “realm of death” (Lehmann 2006:74). His theatre environments are meticulously filled with all manner of surreal apparatus, machines and mannequins that integrate with the performers so that as in The Dead Class (1977) it is difficult to distinguish, which is which.

CHAPTER 3
The Violence of Transformation: Practical Explorations.

This chapter will provide the main body of my research. It is the most underdeveloped at this stage as I intend my practice to inform theory and vice versa. I will locate my own practice within the contexts I have discussed building upon the themes and ideas extracted and ultimately construct an argument towards a theatre of objects making claims for how processes of (violent) transformation can provoke fear and pathos in an audience (either enjoyably through narratives of horror or disturbingly through uncanny recognition) The chapter will be presented as a documentation of my findings.

I will pursue the following research as a point of departure to inform or support exploration workshops and/or performance work:

• A response to Kantor’s Theatre of Death: Doppelganger happening
• An examination of anti-humanist discourse: connections with ritualism and the idea of a theatre of objects.
• A study of traditions of violence in puppet theatre.
• An examination of Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty and an attempt at staging part of his unrealised (and unfinished) total theatre work, There is No More Firmament.

I am aware that all these elements need to be focused but feel that the work needs to remain expansive at this stage as my arguments continue to formulate.

The State I'm In

2007-01-03T16:10:00.000-08:00

Back home, distanced and refreshed I have been able to reflect on the past three months. I feel that my work has undergone a drastic mobilisation; from the frustrations of a year spent dipping into ideas, the last three months have not only provided a much needed focus to them but more importantly have challenged and tempted them from the safety net I had surrounded them with. I have long felt the need to break away from the Schumann/dada inspired black and white cardboard aesthetic and with the completion of the group project eleven: fifty-seven I feel that this is on the turn.

Eleven: Fifty-Seven

In retrospect there is much to be pleased with. Reading Ming’s blog, I agree with his concerns with the quality of certain aspects and understand the need to be critical at this stage but would warn against too much self-flagellation. The demands of what we aimed to produce were ambitious considering the number of creative voices and accommodating the range of disciplines. The vast array of media did not conflict and was used evenly, appropriately, and despite the varity of stylistic inputs it had a strong aesthetic coherency. I felt we succeeded in creating an expansive and tangible world in which the characters existed and in which the audience could be immersed, a world in which (according to feedback) they were more than happy to inhabit. It was one of Ming’s criticism that the audience did not behave as we had intended and I myself was shocked when the puppet figures encountered them face too face on the boulevard. Yet the audiences reaction was one of the most interesting out-comes. We had created this rich environment but had made little provision to contain the audience, instead preferring to guide and focus the action by using the various elements of media and performer. I feel that when we are able to view the recording of the performance we can get a greater sense of how these dynamics worked. I will post reflections of how my own contributions to the work developed on a future blog and much more will be commented upon in the coming weeks when the group put up an exhibition of the process in the foyer gallery space at Wimbledon.

A Critical Shift

My own research project has shifted in its approach and focus. The over-riding feedback from my Cross Course Crit was that my work, practically had moved beyond my theoretical interests. This was confirmed after a tutorial with Amanda. We spoke of how the ‘Uncanny’ was a valid but less engaging thread to my thinking, and that there was something much more dynamic at the heart of my questioning which corresponds with my over-arching argument Towards a Theatre of Objects. The Uncanny and the mythologies surrounding the doppelganger contain this questioning but it is (particularly from a fine art perspective) a bit of a cliché and a much less pertinent area of investigation to drive my work forward. I therefore have taken a different tact, which is a development of my research into the Uncanny (I will still be using the idea of the doppelganger but using it as material to inform performance rather than the focus of research). My new direction will consider what am I arguing when I talk of ‘a theatre of objects’, and what ideas are at play.

It seems that I am arguing towards a theatre of objectification. From an ethnographical standpoint, a theatre that objectifies (through the objects used) is one in which the participants (performers and audience) become ‘objects’ themselves, as in ritual performance. These ideas cross humanist and anti-humanist dialogues, asking fundamental questions of what it is to be human, (which has allowed me to grapple with some of the more challenging philosophical texts). Furthermore, as a focus, I will explore the action at the centre of this theatre: the act of transformation. I will go further to suggest that this act is inherently violent, an exchange that is much more dynamic than it may first appear. This may seem slightly cryptic at this stage, I myself am trying to unravel the ideas and I feel uncomfortable leaving behind the relative safety of pursuing the uncanny…but I guess this is what research is all about.

Banality and Shades: Qualification and Suggested Roles of Puppet Figures

2006-12-02T03:45:00.000-08:00

I see the puppet figures as a device to accentuate the ‘life’ of the outside world and to populate it with movement and dynamism. This is necessary to suggest at the active nature of the ‘memory space’ of Mr North. However this memory space is hazy and repetitive and must suggest at the qualities of memory that are provoked from photography. Considering this the puppets must not be used as narrative characters but as living embodiments of the photographic image, an image that it suggested at by the cut outs that populate the space. In comparison to the cut out which will remain frozen the puppets will still have a fading sense of light and three dimensions that is gradually merging into the photograph. It must be apparent that the puppets will eventually become like the cut outs.  If it is understood that the puppets are not ‘alive’ and not yet strictly dead they should help to represent the transitory metaphysical space between memory and reality. (The reality in this respect being the physical photograph – or the reality of the theatrical event bridged by the direct address of the mistress of ceremonies: Magda.) 

Puppet Conventions

•    They will be lit faintly from inside which should give them a quality of shades. The top half of the bodies will be exposed metal. The figures themselves will not be costumed but the manipulators will wear elements of the puppet’s costume so the object and manipulator are not separate but combined to create the complete image of the character.
•    The puppets will commit arbitrary actions of the boulevard, in this respect it is hoped they will represent the banality of everyday life, the photograph, and (as Barthes suggests) ‘death’.

•    The actions will be repetitive and accompanied by a sound (see below)

•    These actions will have a connection to the projected media of the photographic memories by hinting at an element of memory they provoke. For example, the young girl playing in the puddles will be performed at distance when the photograph of the mother in the winter garden is projected. In this respect the puppets will not become the characters in the photographs but a universal gesture provoked from them. The audience is then free to project meaning and make connections.

•    The puppets movement and presence in the space must be active yet subtle.

Characters and suggested actions

Some are more fully realised than others. I intend to refine and discover during rehearsal.

The Spinsters

•    One has the expression of a stern and grumpy stare, the other as a broad smile and closed eyes.

•    Costume will consist of long Mac style rain jackets.

•    They are spinsters who have found friendship in old age and live together.

•    They come to the boulevard everyday at the same time (rain or shine) to feed the pigeons, which they have taken as a segregate flock to look after. In this respect they are very protective of the birds (If there is time a few simple pigeon puppets/cut outs would be ideal).

•    The contrast of their facial expressions and personalities can make a playful tension between them.

•    I can see them working with the photograph of the wedding, as they  have never been married they could subtlety hint at lament? Regret? Or scorn?

•    Sound: Pigeon call and 'tut'.

 Laughing Father/ Puddle Jumper

•    A young father in fits of laughter.

•    His daughter jumping in Puddles.

•    He will wear a hat; she will have a slightly more realised body for jumping.

•    They can be playing a game together in the puddles and with the pigeons.

•    The most active of the puppets representing the exuberance of youth both through the child and the joys of being a new dad.

•    Lower/Middle Class

•    They can be most active when the picture of winter garden is shown. They can also be used when the picture of the mother and young son is shown.

•    Sound: Laughter and giggle.

The Dandy

•    A young man with finely kept moustache and a cigarette.

•    He is struggling on the rainy day to keep it lit and keep his hair and moustache in place

•    The vanity of youth concerned at how he is perceived.

•    Sound: Whiz whistle

 The Nose

•    Grumpy Middle Aged Businessman.

•   Simply sat on a bench reading half a Newspaper.

•  He represents the aching bitterness of being stuck in a           repetitive and stressful job. Of realising in comparison to the    life ahead of the young father and Dandy, of opportunities lost.    Lamenting a wasted life thus far.

•    Sound: Ratchet

The Nose: Group Project Puppet Update

2006-11-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

A different tact has been taken for the puppet head construction. They will now be made using a clay mould covered in paper mache and then cut. This will make the heads lighter and easier to manipulate as well as giving them a more finished appearance whilst maintaining the translucence qualities of the earlier versions. The model above is my first attempt and I am calling him The Nose: a middle aged, grumpy, city banker type. I do not want to make the characters too specific but I think it is necessary for them to hint at a certain ‘stock type’ so they have a universal feel in contrast to the more three dimensional realism of Mr and Mrs North. I have been working on achieving a more realistic face structure and then adding exaggerations to the features, as I still want the puppet crowd to contain an air of the grotesque. I will hold several days of puppet making next week; a timetable is on the notice board.

Dostoevsky and the Cross Course Crit

2006-11-20T15:17:00.000-08:00

Despite initial fears of a critical mauling, my cross course crit on Friday proved to be simultaneously enjoyable and beneficial. I decided to create a piece of performance to demonstrate the current position of my ideas rather than a ramble about them. I was concerned that this risk would not pay off and just confuse the Crit (ers) even more. I wrote a short play entitled Once More, with Feeling, which centred on a quote from Dostoevsky’s The Double. I sat with a mannequin and a tape machine having a conversation with myself with my trousers down. I will leave the description there but my intention was to play out some of the ideas that currently concern my practice.

The performance received a positive response. I think this was partly because there seems to rarely be performance in the fine art saturated MA studios, (something I hope myself and the other VLP students will change) but overall it seemed to offer something tangible for the group.

The crux of the feedback was that my work seemed to have moved beyond the doppelganger and posed more pertinent questions concerning the fundamental nature of humanism: what it is to be human. This theoretically extends my ideas into a philosophical field that I have been aware of yet cautious to visit, but I shall begin grappling with more challenging texts in preparation for my critical studies tutorial in a few weeks. At this stage I do not want to abandon my work and reading into the myth surrounding the double but look to incorporate it into the body of reading (and eventually writing) that will form my thesis.

Punctum Puppet Update…

2006-11-13T14:50:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update of the latest puppet. It is intended to be one of the crowd, an old lady, consisting of a head, shoulders, and right arm (the chair is not part of it– unless we really want to hit the surreal). Kasia and I have been working together to try and perfect the style and overall feel of the puppet, to make her realistic but still located in the realm of the grotesque. I think we are almost there and I hope tomorrow proves just as productive as today. She is made with wire and thin paper so when we start playing with lighting we should be able to produce some workable shadows.

Pure Object Theatre

2006-11-09T14:30:00.000-08:00

Fischli and Weiss: Flowers and Questions A Retrospective.

Showing at the Tate Modern Until 14th January 2007.

The delight of this exhibition can be found in Rooms 5 and 6. In room 5 there are a number of photographs depicting objects placed in humorous states of play with each other, as if caught out playing games with other or caught in the act of object copulation. The titles in turn add a surrealist twist that harks back to the ready-mades of Duchamp and the gang.

Yet this is just a prelude for what must be the amusing film I have ever seen in a gallery. The Way Things Go (1986 -7) is a product of the artists playing with objects as they set off an absurd chain reaction of events that combine chairs, tyres, balloons filled with acid, bars of corroding soap, tiny cars, kettles mounted on roller skates and all manner of inventive combinations of objects lasting for over thirty minutes. They manage to animate this array of inanimate objects with the tinniest force, liberating them from banality. This is no doubt a famous work that has been parodied (or stolen) by that Honda Ad but coming across it unexpectedly was the highlight of a thoroughly enjoyable retrospective. If only science lessons had been like this.

You can see a clip at this site:
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/the-way-of-things/

Metal Mrs North

2006-11-06T10:56:00.000-08:00

click on the image to see the video

I have made a small wire puppet head for the character of Mrs North. I have been paying with lighting it from various angles and wanted to share the results in the form of a video. I think this could be the way forward for the puppet design. It seems to fit the overall style that is emerging and I like the idea of using various found objects like the glasses in it’s construction.

A new fire has been started deep down in the gut...

2006-11-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Bukowski drinks too a productive meeting...as if he needs an excuss

As a result of a meeting on Sunday (5/11/2006) a plan has been draw up concerning the advancement of the company. Here is the outcome:

A full production timetable has been put in place for Love is a Dog from Hell, which will be incorporated as part of my personal research. As we ae only working on this part time we have decided to work towards a full scratch performance of the play around Easter 2007 (date to be confirmed). It will be performed in the Companies H.Q in Clapham. The rehearsal process will begin with a number workshops starting with an investigation into the transformation of objects (animation) and then continuing with a closer look at puppet presence, working with the specific puppets in the play in more detail. In-between now and Easter we hope to develop the play through participation in various scratch nights, including Battersea Arts Centre, the Latchmere Scratch, and a workshop at Wimbledon.

In addition to the regular company the Greyhounds will produce an original score for the play.(I will place a link to their myspace music page as soon as I get it)

We will raise £300 for improvements to our space and to pay for costs of production.

We have setup a company blog as a forum for debating and promoting the work: thingsonfiretheatre.blogspot.com

The Website is under reconstruction. www.thingsonfire.co.uk

If anybody would like to come and take part in the rehearsal workshops then please contact me for more details.

Things On Fire H.Q

2006-11-02T14:44:00.000-08:00

For the first time Things On Fire have a base for rehearsal, storage, and possibly performance. Situated above a church in Clapham Junction the H.Q has everything an aspiring theatre company may need: kitchen, storage/workshop room, and a good sized rehearsal space. The plan over the coming months is to adapt the space to make it more performance friendly, which will include: blackout curtains, basic lighting, seating, flats, and various ’things’ which the company like to use in the devising process. From the H.Q Things On Fire can start to spread the word of cheap art for all. The company plan to mark the occasion this Sunday with the continuing rehearsal of Love is a Dog from Hell and a celebratory roast.

The company will also continue to progress with the redevelopment of the website and a company blog to mark progress. I will post this information here as and when it comes.

In honour of our new home I have pasted the company manifesto below:

Things On Fire: 1st Manifesto

There is an overwhelming problem facing the world, the problem of things on fire. For years we have produced, horded and consumed a startling amount of things, things that have finally had enough. The time has come when they shall have their revenge - AH!

On returning from work one evening you will find your table has spontaneously combusted and your suit is smouldering in the wardrobe… Pots and pans spark in the cupboards and the glowing ashes of a doormat crackle in the wind outside… When out walking you see a pair of shoes burning in a shop window… A road sweeper's broom smokes on the street as it pushes piles of flaming cans into a melting bin.

And yet the fire will not stop there. It will spread and catch rooftops, houses and trees, roads and streetlights.

Can we possibly justify making any more? When many have little enough to sustain themselves, we just stand by and let things burn. And yet they have been burning for a long time, so long in fact that we hardly notice anymore…

We have been abruptly awakened by the accidental meeting of an umbrella and a sewing machine on an operating table; teaspoons, light-bulbs, nudes and table legs; axels, eyelids, top hats and mandolins. The immediate absurdity of the object out of its place, scurrying along the tabletop, swinging from the periphery; the object rising from its ashes and diagnosing its sickness. The poor, inconsiderable, low, inanimate object, salvaged from the scrapheap, found on a side-street, washed up in a drainpipe…the object stamped with the sign of death, the object that has had a life already… Things on Fire make these objects perform, fusing them with the poorest objects of their kind, giving them a new form, a new significance, a new life - a bike, a hat, a bed, a mannequin.

Our aesthetic is born out of a passion for the surreal and the cinematic, the photographic and the atmospheric, the dark and the beautiful moving image. Through puppetry and performing objects the company have developed a theatrical language with which to paint pictures and set scenes, a stage upon which actors are shaped within their surroundings and framed in a space as if seen through a camera's lens.

The Double’s Paradox: Part 1

2006-11-01T14:04:00.000-08:00

(As an object in performance)

Here is a trial of thought at its earliest stage. This is something I have been mulling over and just wanted to put the idea up here. I have not contextualised my thoughts in the mythology surrounding the double or indeed the nature of object theatre, hence why it is part 1.Apologies for the poor grammar in some parts of this, it is taken from a stream of notes. Please comment if you have any thoughts.

The relationship between body (performer) and object: There is an investment within the process of transformation that demands a commitment to the object – essentially a commitment of exchange that occurs between the performer and the object. With the animorphication of an object the commitment of the performer must be total. It exists as a one-way street of exchange, both mentally and physically from the performer to the object. If this did not happen the illusion of artificial life is broken and the spectator cannot join in with the exchange, they become distanced from it and it ultimately results in the objects falsified life – dying.

In the case of the doppelganger there seems to occur an almost opposite exchange. The process of transforming your own inanimate double from dead object into a live one seems to contradict the very nature of it. The performer becomes the servant and thus is accepting his own demons– his own death (?) – his darker ‘other side’ then the question emerges:

Why does he not just drop the damn thing and live?

Suddenly the object gains a great sense of power. It asks very personal (or should that be philosophical – I think of Camus and Suicide) questions of the animator, the most personal.

Another way of looking at it is that the animator must keep the animation going – the object alive, if it drops then surely he is done for, if your double dies then where (or what!) does it leave you…. A very complex questioning emerges and the animator/character is confronted with a much more sophisticated relationship with the object he is animating.

This needs to be explored practically.

It is completely different when a puppeteer animates the double of another actor. It breaks the personalisation of the event. The exchange reverts back to that of the one-way street. This is of course when we are in the realm of a ‘theatrical reality’ – the animation of your own double does not actually mean you are orchestrating your death – playing the part of the reaper (of course…of course!) What is at stake is for the character version of you this is where the drama exists.

Subversion of the fantasy life and real life –An argument developed in the Perverts Guide - Žižek's asserts that fantasy life IS you and the real life is a suppressed version, a socially acceptable version. Following this logic the performer becomes the object (the double) and vice versa. (They both love big brother so to speak – using Orwell as a symbol)

The Perverts Guide to Cinema

2006-10-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick recommendation..

Presented by the eccentric philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek The Perverts Guide is a fascinating exploration into how film plays with our fundamental fears and desires. Taking examples from Hitchcock, Lynch, and a host of other clips from classic movies he teases out the layers of which the filmmakers have created and using Freudian psychoanalyst explains why they have such an impact. There was a clever weaving of Žižek into the sets of the films he was deconstructing which gave the denser theory an essential comedic edge. His discussion of Lynch’s Blue Velvet is particularly fascinating. As one of my favourite films is has continued to baffle me as to why it has had such a disturbing impact (beyond the violence and surrealism) this went some way too finding an answer. If you’re not convinced then this is worth going to see just to note down all the films he references, a fine ensemble. Details are on the vizlang website. It is showing at the ICA until November 2nd.

MySpace

2006-10-28T02:23:00.000-07:00

It may seem obvious but I’m really appreciating a studio…

As a theatre student (of research and directing) I am not use to the idea of a personal studio. In fact on the first day at Wimbledon when the studio was being allocated I was certain I would not need one and was willing to sacrifice my allotted area for a fine art student. How wrong I was. I have now begun to fully utilise my little area to give a focus to my working process, which is at times quite fragmented.

The Uncanny Gallery is a simple board of pictures that I consider being demonstrations of ‘uncanny’ imagery or at least that represent something that contains an element of the uncanny. This idea reflects the process of artist Mike Kelly when he was compiling an exhibition of uncanny sculpture and other visual art for Tate Liverpool. He organised his ideas by collect a vast range of images, compiling a type of uncanny spectrum from which to organise the exhibition. In turn I have created my own micro version to frame the vast amount of images that I am steadily collecting.

The space also allows me to consider the puppet heads for Love is a Dog From Hell from a new perspective. This may seem obvious but for a few months they have been stored away, having them mounted together allows me to see how they work as a set of three, and I can reassess the overall puppet aesthetic. It has already made me rethink the puppet's eyes. They are currently painted on the surface of the head. Although they work I am finding that when animating them the performer has to work extremely hard to maintain that the sense of life, the sense of fire behind them. I feel that the painted eyes will not be able to convey the depth of expression that the play requires. Therefore I have decided to insert a more realistic eyeball to each socket, a plastic eye that is made with layers. It is a simple touch but I think an important one for the success of these particular puppets, of whom I am asking a high level of ‘acting’ from.

A new addition to my growing collection of bodiless heads is an effigy of myself. This will be the head of my doppelganger I am currently building. This heads contains the plastic eyes that I mentioned above and they already have a greater sense of depth than the completed puppet heads.In Short, I am finding that the studio space is bringing clarity to my working process and I will be making sure that I always have access to a studio in my future practice.

LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL: FIRST MEETING

2006-10-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

On Thursday (19/10/06) Things On Fire resurrected the play Love is a Dog from Hell by meeting for the first time since the summer to re-ignite the unfinished work. Liz came from Southampton to become involved for the first time in the rehearsal process. I had relucentatly put the play to bed for practical reasons but now see a new opportunity to bring in fresh blood and produce the work alongside my research at Wimbledon. The puppets (one of which is shown above) have been made and I intend to work on the mechanisms through workshops with the actors and in consultation with Beth who is now working towards qualifications in costume construction.This week I will sketch out a rough production plan and will meet with Beth for a rethink of the puppet construction.

Love is a Dog from Hell is a response to the life and works of Charles Bukowski. I have been playing around with various poems and bits of text for over a year with the intention of forming a more complete piece. It is my intention to explore the realist beat writing of Bukowski through the ‘unrealistic’ (or should this be un-naturalistic?) convention of the puppet. Due to the nature of these particular puppets I will also locate the puppet/performer relationship in the broader framework of my research concerning the doppelganger.

The meeting was short but productive, I was able to video Joe working with the puppet and realise the advantage of documenting the process. This is the start of a new phase for Things On Fire (if indeed this will continue to be our name). I will update the progress of this work along with my individual research.

2006-10-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my first ever blog.