Month: March 2018

“Breaking News!”: I’m Creating a Preset!

Daniel John Fotheringham / / Progression of Performance

After doing my rehearsal on Tuesday, I began to think about how the opening would work. Indeed, whilst what I had was interesting, I felt that I needed a pre-set for the audience to experience in which, when entering the space, they would feel overwhelmed about the event. Similarly, they would feel how I felt on the day when I heard the news that the incident had occurred and the day after when I found out it was my friend involved in the incident.

Part of the reason I felt this pre-set is important is because they need to know about the incident and I would rather give them the context of that situation by showing them what happened rather than telling them. So, I started thinking about ideas and how this may work. When beginning the pre-set, I knew I wanted to use The Smiler music used at Alton Towers as when listening to it, there was something quite horrible concerning the music. Indeed, in the song, there is a heavy bass sound that is used as the beat of the song as if it is meant to be oppressive. Later, there is the sound of people laughing in a sinister manner and a we can hear the scream of a girl as if she is having fun (IMAscoregermany, 2013).

Personally, when listening to the song, I found this a bit darker than what was expected. Indeed, whilst the concept of the ride, as stated by TowersStreet.com, is based on the concept of Marmalisation” which is “a process intended to instill a sense of social compliance through constant smiling” and is based on the idea that the guests are social experiments, there was something about the music that made it have a double meaning (Towers Street, 2018). Indeed, the music itself reminds me more now about the incident and can be seen as a scary reminder of the day about a set of people intending to have fun and being part of a tragic event.

However, when messing about on a laptop and browsing about to get an idea of the event, I decided to look at the news broadcasts made and found a really interesting set of them. From there, I decided to compile them underneath the music and found it to be scarier as the music was an undertone under the piece and I felt that this could be used when the audience enters. In the next couple of weeks, I am intending to mix this together in the Media Building and I hope that this will show its big effect. Whilst I cannot mix it now, here are the clips I am intending to use in this video under The Smiler music.

(IMAscoregermany, 2013)

(Good Morning Britain, 2015).

(BBC News, 2015).

(Sky News, 2015).

(ThorpeLT, 2015).

These are just a few of the videos that I’m intending on using. From this, I am hoping this may overwhelm the audience with the seriousness of the incident and also how one incident isn’t as forgettable as it is to others.

However, in furthering this idea of overwhelming the audience, I am intending to also do something else. As mentioned before, I want to explore the idea of using tape to represent something. However, I am very aware that this will limit the amount of people who wish to view the show. Therefore, I am intending to also use tape again to represent the queue and people will be able to voyeuristically watch it from the experience of the queue. By doing this, it will allow them to get a sense of the incident and how exposed I felt when I heard the news. Plus, I want to explore the idea of becoming a ride attendant and seating the audience in the rows as if they are actually going on the ride. Therefore, the message could feel more heartfelt about the idea of people looking forward to a day at the park and going out for a good time and instead coming back with horrible memories.

Works Cited:

BBC News (2015) Alton Towers boss: ‘We are devastated by what happened’ BBC News. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5ZXE6GIYXQ [accessed 29 March 2018].

Good Morning Britain (2015) Alton Towers Smiler Crash – Good Morning Britain. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5VxuRa_WBc [accessed 29 March 2018].

IMAscoregermany (2013) The Smiler Soundtrack [official]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+smiler+music [accessed 29 March 2018].

Sky News (2015) Full Interview With Alton Towers Boss After Rollercoaster Crash. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kke3h2UeH3I [accessed 29 March 2018].

ThorpeLT (2015) Smiler Accident at Alton Towers (LONGER VERSION) 02/06/2015. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ems1fgKysVQ [accessed 29 March 2018].

Towers Street (2018) The Smiler. Available from https://towersstreet.com/theme-park/ride/the-smiler/ [accessed 29 March 2018].

From conceptual thinking to visualisation…

Daniel John Fotheringham / / Performance and Reflection, Progression of Performance, Work devised in rehearsals

In todays session outside of study time, I decided to make the first step in staging some of the work that had been discussed and thought. Partly, this down to the fact that when creating a performance, it is ok to conceive ideas. But, in order for the performance to become successful, the ideas must be more than things that stick on a piece of paper. As a lecturer once said, “The time for thinking is over” and it is therefore time to start getting things on its feet (Dubois, 2018).

In beginning the work, I decided to rehearse this piece in Studio 2 due to the fact that after discussion of the idea with people, they felt it would work better. When considering the seating of it, I decided to go for a simple seating arrangement being eight rows in a four by four arrangement. However, this was down to more than a simple arrangement as I wanted to give a sense of the experience of being on the rollercoaster, The Smiler. Since the seating arrangement is a four by four carriage, I wanted to recreate this to give an idea of the scope of the ride.

Image result for smiler test car
The Smiler Cars

However, in discussion with a peer, they suggested the possibility of maybe having another set of four rows in four by four. This was to indicate the empty “test carriage” that “had been sent around the 14-loop ride, but had failed” and the actual that had occurred (Reynolds, 2016).

SP 3
A side angle of the chairs in the layout of The Smiler ride cars

SP 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see in the pictures, I tried to stay faithful with this layout without making it feel too obvious as I wanted to explore how performing in the space may be seen as claustrophobic. Personally, I felt this was very uncomfortable as I felt very trapped with the performance space as it felt as if in the space, you felt very exposed as the audience were invading my personal space being the stage. Therefore, I decided to make sure that their space was invaded in which the audience would be asked to be seated in the back four rows. Thus, as you may notice in the picture to the left, there was very little space between the second carriage and the first on the front and back row of them as I wanted to recreate the feeling of the crash and as if they were sitting in a recreated version of the ride.

SP 1

After getting the seating arrangement sorted, I decided to work on the final section which would discuss my experience of going on The Smiler at Alton Towers three years after the incident had occurred. Through this, I decided that the use of storytelling would be a key mode and paid attention similarly to the style of Tim Miller when considering the idea of pace by making it quick dialogue. The use of this would help the audience go on the journey and would therefore allow them to go on the journey as if my experience at the theme park was a rollercoaster.

When rehearsing it, I found it difficult as I wanted to ensure I got the details in concerning the day as well as the feeling of being on the ride. But, the main thing I was keen to explore when devising it was how to focus on the idea of the past and revisiting it and by the use of the physical obstruction, it allowed me to show this idea of how the past was not as far away as to some people. When devising it, Bleeding Edge Theatre (who were rehearsing next door in the other studio) kindly offered to come in and watch what I had created. As you will see in the footage, it is a little rough but I was glad that they had offered to become an audience in order to try out some of the ideas I had been testing.

(Daniel Fotheringham, 2018).

After performing it to the peers, the group had seemed impressed with what I had done and felt that whilst the performance would be limited to sixteen people, it was an effective staging. However, they commented that I could run the risk of coming across narcissistic about the event when it was my friend who had been involved in the incident and needed a bit more clarity. When discussing the other ideas I had in mind to combat this, they felt that this could work and I felt, like them, there had to be more of a “red thread” in combining The Smiler Incident and the experience I had going on the rollercoaster. Indeed, I feel there needs to be more of an idea in revisiting the past and how this may be not helpful and I also feel that there needs to be more of a voice from my friend (Leah Washington) who was involved in the incident and how her experience affected me.

However, when considering the use of the chairs, I was a bit concerned when performing that I would struggle to get seated even without audience members and I am considering, instead of four chairs representing the empty car, the use of tape marking the other one similar to what is used in a crime scene investigation. Partly, this was down to the fact that it was quite impractical. I also feel that the audience would want to sit anywhere and would therefore lose the impact of the piece. Indeed, when Bleeding Edge entered the room, I had to tell them where they must sit. However, whilst this was not a problem, I do think that the audience I perform to may not get the mantra and will therefore make the piece lose the impact.

Overall though, I think today was a success. I have an idea on where the performance is going and whilst there are some elements that need to be refined, I feel that this has helped me in thinking what could be improved the next time when I perform the piece. I feel now that in order for it to work, I am ready to have an audience to test out ideas to ensure that the performance is a success and I hope this will enlighten me on the experience that they have and how to improve their experience.

Works Cited:

Daniel Fotheringham (2018) Solo Performance Draft 1. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LaMrCNfIqE [accessed 27 March 2018].

Dubois, D. (2018) Pitching my solo performance idea and discussion of technical requirements [workshop]. Solo Performance DRA3043M-1718, University of Lincoln, 20 March.

Reynolds, L. (2016) Alton Towers Smiler crashed with ‘force of 90mph car accident’: Shocking details emerge. Express, 26 September. Available from https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/714454/Alton-Towers-Smiler-ride-crashed-with-force-of-90mph-car-smash [accessed 27 March 2018].

Refining the idea. From the broad to the personal…

Daniel John Fotheringham / / Progression of Performance, Work devised in rehearsals

In a rehearsal yesterday, after the thoughts that were discussed in my first work-in-progress, I decided to use social media as a starting point. The reason being was that I was concerned that I was approaching a very niche topic that had too much to say. It does not mean to say that doing a niche topic is bad but that if you do a niche topic then there must be a reason on why you want to do it. Thus, I decided to just scrap the idea and think of something else.

Throughout this time of discussing the thoughts, I decided to pinpoint some ideas that were discussed and one of them was the way of how social media had become a platform for privacy for people to type away stuff that was not heartfelt or used for a personal agenda and decided to think about something that has angered me before and comments that have made me feel annoyed about certain topics. With that, I decided to write down some instances that had occurred in the last five years or so and decided to write down what triggered me and why it made me feel triggered.

When writing up certain things up. Certain topics like Brexit, Donald Trump and other stuff such as equal pay came up and I decided to dismiss these as I felt that these ideas were too generic and there was nothing original or new to mention. As I kept thinking about ideas that angered me, I started thinking about the “#PrayFor” movement used to pay respects for certain people. Such certain ones that came up when researching were #PrayForParis and also a #PrayForLeah which was based off the person who was injured in the Alton Towers Smiler Rollercoaster Crash.

Image result for #pray for paris

(Jullien, 2015).

However, I felt very annoyed about this as I personally feel that people used this trend as an idea to jump on the bandwagon and use this for their own personal agendas to highlight instead of paying respects. Indeed, as I was doing some further research, I decided to do a research on YouTube and found a video that showcased some unknown attacks that were going on similarly to the time of Paris for example. Whilst it is important to note that some people do genuinely use it to pay their respect, what was clear in the videos was that certain attacks are not known due to the popularity of the place. Yet, I personally believe that some of this was down to the fact that people used the hash tag to metaphorically “jump on the bandwagon” as seen in the following video.

(Adrian Fernandez, 2015).

As I was thinking through this idea, it was based on three incidents on people using the #PrayFor as a platform to gather their thoughts and not taking action and instead using it as a fad. In this piece, I was thinking of using three incidents being Paris, The Alton Towers Incident and the recent Florida shooting. The reason using this was because of this. As we know, it was mainly the Paris shooting that triggered the “PrayFor” movement but part of the reason to use the Alton Towers Incident was because my friend was involved in the incident and personally, I still feel affected in the community of friends that are know of Leah yet a lot of other people have moved on. I then decided to juxtapose the two things with the Florida Shootings to show how society is moving on and taking action and therefore there was no more of a sense that people were using it for a trend and instead wanting to take action.

However, when working on this, I felt this was too much and decided to stick to only one incident that would be the main focus. Because of this, I have chosen to focus on the Alton Towers Incident. However, instead of looking it from the angle of social media, I have decided to focus on the community side of it and a particular incident I had a couple of years after the incident and how that has personally affected me in trying to face the incident in the past. Therefore, the piece will be on that in particular. I have already started contacting the person involved in the incident and I intend to interview her about the event.

Whatever the case is, I hope that this will be a piece that can alarm people in understanding that revisiting the past can be unhealthy and not good.

Works Cited:

Adrian Fernandez (2015) #PrayForParis (World Peace) AVIID Edition. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rePXvaDQPBE [accessed 26 March 2018].

Laurent, O. (2015) 70 Million Shared Their Prayers for Paris on Instagram This Weekend. Time Magazine, 16 November. Available from http://time.com/4114288/paris-instagram/ [accessed 26 March 2018].

Work-In-Progress 1 – Discussion of the idea

Daniel John Fotheringham / / Performance and Reflection, Progression of Performance

photo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In creating theatre, it is always important to know that you have to go with your heart and in this case, this is something that I have chosen to do. In my previous workshop on this module, I was given the opportunity to pitch my solo performance and explain what I wanted to do prior to starting rehearsals on the piece. As mentioned previously, this was an idea that I was keen to explore because I felt it was of high importance and relevance considering that we are obsessed with the idea of social media and the culture of it has become massive. However, in pitching the idea, it dawned upon me that the idea would not work. Therefore, the idea has been scrapped.

Now this has been down to loads of reasons but one of the key reasons is because that whilst the idea was a strong one and held cultural relevance for a modern audience particularly, the idea felt too broad. Indeed, whilst explaining the idea, I felt concerned that what I was doing was focusing too much on the knowledge about the topic due to how niche the topic rather than exploring what I wished to do with the topic. Likewise, whilst it is ok to do a piece based on a topic, if there is too much knowledge and not enough substance to make your piece theatrical then you face the risk of the piece becoming not too dissimilar to a lecture and quite didactic. Therefore, I have decided to scrap the idea and try to think of an idea of what I wish to do.

At this moment, I don’t know too much on what I wish to focus on but I think that there should be something based on social media due to the fact that it has consumed our lives in the past decade or so. In particular, this idea of social media is interesting and something that I am considering to explore a stimulus for the time in the hope of being able to branch out about something new. However, as time goes on, who knows what the piece will become.

Shia LaBeouf – An artist of our time?

Daniel John Fotheringham / / Other Solo Performances, Progression of Performance, Research Material
140211-romano-labeouf-tease_trepye
Shia LaBeouf in #IAMSORRY

In todays class, we were once again introduced to a set of artists. In observing them all, I felt they evoked some interesting elements. However, one artist that spoke out to me more was none other but the renowned Shia LaBeouf.

Now prior to finding out about his work, similar to some people as seen in the class, I felt very strongly against his work due to his reputation that he has gained in the media. Such instances have showcased him for example as a madman and as if he is trying to hold onto his fame by trying to redefine himself as a performance artist. Indeed, this is highlighted why the business magazine, Forbes in which they attack the artist by saying that “his downfall has been tragic, even if it appears to be mostly self-inflicted” and also that “he should retreat from public life altogether, and focus on ridding himself of whatever ailment troubles him;” (Placido, 2017).

However, whilst people may say that Placido’s statement is true, I believe that LaBeouf does not deserve this statement. Whilst he may have caused controversy, he has been regarded as a millennial artist that aims to make a statement personally about who he is, what he does and try to make that distinction of what is art and entertainment. Thus, through his perseverance of being an artist, he has been seen as a popular culture icon that many people are fascinated by as seen in the video below:

(robcantor, 2014).

From this video above, we could say that there is so much to learn about LaBeouf as he gained a cult following for his decision to be a performance artist and also as a celebrity. Indeed, LaBeouf’s performance style could be deemed as him trying to redeem himself and define himself as an artist. Thus, we could say that this video jokingly poking at LaBeouf epitomises who he is and what he does concerning his performance art.

Now whilst LaBeouf has had a very short career so far as a performance artist, we will focus on one performance he did called #ALLMYMOVIES. Seen below, the six part video documents LaBeouf’s performance as he watches all of he films in reverse starting with his latest film at the time of the performance to his first movie. In the performance, as documented below, he allowed audience members to come in to see him perform and watch his own films and also livestreamed the event for people to observe from the internet. This performance went on for three days, as documented in Jimmy Kimmel video with Shia LaBeouf and personally has allowed me to understand the idea more of the distinction between a performer and artist.

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner, 2016).

(Jimmy Kimmel Live, 2016).

From the set of videos, there is a lot we can learn a lot from LaBeouf’s performance. For starters, one interesting thing we could say is that for the manner of the performance, we see him enter the room and sit down as if he is trying to signify he is an equal and not as if he should be respected higher. Therefore, it could be suggested that he is playing with the idea of the relationship between the audience and performer and as if he implying that everyone, including Shia LaBeouf, creates the performance. This is even including the people watching the livestream and therefore makes the piece feel extremely interactive. Thus, this is something I wish to explore as I am intending on livestreaming the performance in which the audience will be able to question this distinction between audience and performer and who has the dominance onstage.

As well, one of the other questions we could ask is the question concerning the issue of authenticity. A couple of weeks ago, we explored this idea of authenticity/ autobiographical performance in which, during the workshop, we came to a conclusion that it is hard to define whether a autobiographical performance can be deemed as authentic as there will always be some performativity to the piece of work which would make it less authentic. Indeed, as Craig Gingrich-Philbrook notes in his introduction to his script Refreshment, “autobiographical performers cannot speak for an absolutely unique experience.” (Philbrook, 1997, 353). Therefore, it is unclear to define whether Shia LaBeouf’s performance can be seen as authentic due to the performativity of his reactions in this meta-theatrical performance as he watches the films in reverse.

However, one thing that is interesting is, once again, this issue of status as a performer. From discussions and understanding the artist in class, we understood that his main aim was to try and sec make himself change his status from celebrity status and make himself an equal in the audience. However, in performing this piece in a manner where he is allowing the audience to view it as a participant, the focus is less on the films being shown but more the focus on his reaction. Indeed, one problem that occurs is that this creates a “boomerang” effect in which he is unable to denounce himself as a celebrity but as an artist. This idea of the denouncement and equality of the audience is something I wish to challenge as I feel this idea of the power relationship and challenging this idea of how I could be deemed as an equal onstage compared and how, through the status and persona of a Youtuber, how I could try and denounce myself and the reaction that would give or vice versa.

Overall, whilst people may criticise Shia LaBeouf for having no relevance or an idea on what his work could be, I find his performance art interesting. Each piece holds something clear and important and allows him to denounce himself into a performance artist and allows us to question his work or even make suggestions on what it could mean. Thus, this allows us to rethink the ideas of post-modernism and modernism and brings us back to the ideas of Matt Chewiwie in the question of how you distinguish art and performance and what the meaning of art is.

Works Cited:

Jimmy Kimmel Live (2016) Shia LaBeouf Explains His Performance Art Events. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeZ6iy_qUhs [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016) #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 1 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkIPVVpY164 [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016) #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 2 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhq-KgkKVCg [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016) #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 3 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkJ1oGgMzJM [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016) #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 4 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgrwLhpcqwo [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016) #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 5 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow2SjHwffQ4 [accessed 05 March 2018].

LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner (2016)  #ALLMYMOVIES (Part 6 of 6). Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO_xbsp6sKA [accessed 05 March 2018].

Philbrook, C.G. (1997) Autobiographical Performance Scripts – Refreshment. Text and Performance Quarterly, 17 352-360.

Placido, D. D. (2017) What Happened To You, Shia LaBeouf?. Forbes, 12 July. Available from https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2017/07/12/what-happened-to-you-shia-labeouf/#641f40fb1193 [accessed 05 March 2018].

robcantor (2014). “Shia LaBeouf” Live – Rob Cantor. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0u4M6vppCI [accessed 05 March].