Saturday 4 September 2010

To be or not to be a Cunt



Recently especially after going to the Edinburgh Fringe i've had loads of ideas for theatre heres a sample of two of them:

1.
An audience is ushered into a room vacant except for exact seating , facing a blank wall in the middle of the space and a microphone stand with a microphone near its base on the floor.
Nothing happens
Nothing happens for 5 minutes
10 minutes goes

An Usher comes to the front of the stage and apologizes for the absence of the performance.

The Usher then rings the performer on a mobile or possibly telephone belonging to the building just in earshot of the audience. The usher ends the call and goes back to the mic stand.

The Usher then produces an envelope and reads the letter it contains aloud.

The Usher then goes back to the phone and a short conversation ensues.

After this the Usher/s rush around putting a table in the middle of the stage with a telephone/mobile on.

Nothing Happens
Nothing Happens again

The phone rings an usher or audience member picks it up.
It is the performer he is late, fatigued and unable to perform but the show must go on, the action must still happen the audience must still applaud at least this is how the performer sees it. So how can it continue? do the audience do the actions instead? can the performer accurately describe/ direct their actions for the show to go on? Or can the audience and ushers create something more?

Perhaps the actor arrives at the end and the audience don't care.

2.
Several Participants are asked on the street or find a number to ring to give contact information for a meeting at a time and date and place in nottingham

It is unsure why they have been picked
Why they have to meet up
But they agree to

The participants arrive at their separate locations and given headphones connected to an audio device

The headphones give instructions to each participant depending on their location they are guided on a journey through the streets of the city encountering various events (unsure what yet- keep havin visions of a alleyway with a guy painting a shop front and him dropping something and asking for it, these are the small interactions which can set sparks fly).
While traveling hopefully participants will pass each other in inadvertently. As they come into contact with their characters surroundings the story unravels but with some fluidity so to give the participants choice of how to interact and other options any of which is acceptable.

These tasks and interaction with performers and participants will culminate in a date. Almost as if they had planned this meeting sometime before but have forgotten. The main idea is to explore the idea of love at first sight how this is possible and impossible (though this maybe quite difficult since participants won't necessarily like each other though through following the narrative this might materialize to some degree). Also i love the idea of orchestrating an audience round a city, whilst they interact with their surroundings having a overall view of there interactions and possibly with each other, then possibly turning it into a kind of narrative.

These pieces are obviously unfinished and need work both still early stages quite vague but interest me in the ideas that surround them. I just hope that they aren't just ideas or words that they actually get into production. I just need this message in my head:

I HAVE NO INTEREST IN TELLING YOU WHAT ANYTHING IS. I HAVE NO INTEREST IN TELLING YOU WHAT I THINK IS RIGHT OR WRONG. THE ONLY THINGS THAT EXIST ARE ENERGY, AMBITION, AND THE DETERMINATION NOT TO LET YOURSELF DOWN BY WALKING AWAY BEFORE THE JOB IS DONE. DO NOT GIVE UP. DO NOT LEAVE YOUR IDEAS HALF-BORN. DO NOT WALK AWAY. BECAUSE OTHERWISE THE ONLY ONES LEFT GOING FORWARD ARE THE CUNTS OF THIS WORLD. AND IF WE GIVE UP AND FADE INTO THE BACKGROUND, THEIR VOICES WILL BE LOUD AND THEIR SIGNAL WILL BE ON ALL THE FREQUENCIES. DO NOT STOP. DO NOT STOP. OR THEY WILL WIN.
Chris Thrope's - One minute manifesto - Forest Fringe August 2010

This is what i need to do think aloud and continue pursue those dreams and get going otherwise some other cunt will do it instead.
x

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