Bitter Street Installation – Over and Out

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 Shane Humberstone Uncategorized

Finally, I was able to perform Bitter Street as part of the Newvolutions festival. Despite technical difficulties right up untone minute before the performance, the piece ran and for me it was a success.

My main goal for the piece was to always immerse people. In the end i thought what could immerse people even more than actually being part of the performance? The tedious act of continuously having to build these playing card huts enabled everyone to get involved, to become part of the system. I believe that people became frustrated with havig to angle these cards carefully together and after several minutes them just playing down and for this reason the piece was a success.

The video in the backgound became more of a back drop and allowed the audience to interpret what was happening as they wanted, which i find fascinating. Some thought it was the oprresion of dictatorship, some thought it was the idea of being made part of a system and being exploited without realising this. Neither of these exactly coincide with my intention but it proves that because i had an intention audience still could take something from it.

Despite these successes, there was a few floors. Minus the video trouble, the central projector was constantly walked in front of as it was floor mounted and a lot of written information was lost. This would have helped with a more contextual understanding to the piece. Although it was not detrimental, it certainly would have been a far clearer stage image.

I also beleive that my involvement with in the triangular space took a lot, and potentially, too much focus away from the projections. Some audience members were acknowledging them but naturally when their is a live human to watch, the focus is hard to deter.

This project has inspired me to make the piece longer. Here are a few alterations that i believe will strengthen the piece;

Before entering the space myself, i will leave the audience alone with the projections to establish an importance of the videos.
The video will include larger scoping clips that truly encapuslate their purpose plus adding length to the piece.
The projectors will all be reared projected to stop any distortion of images.
Music will be louder to add to a more constrictive atmosphere.
Head phones would be used to add differnt layers to the sound and hopefully make the the individual experience more unique as i could potentially provide two or more channels for them to listen to.
in my distribution and redistibution of the cards i will create a clearer system so audience members can grow to understand it and become further institutionalised by the task.

Perf 1

The whole process has been fun and unique and has definitely opened up new forms of preformance to me which i wish to continue to explore.

All photos were wonderfully taken by Phil Crow. These can be found, along with my colleague’s performances at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/61839232@N02/sets/72157650394311512/

Tech Time

January 20, 2015January 27, 2015 Shane Humberstone Practical

During my technical set up for my performance I quickly learnt the importance of a good understanding of technical elements within performance. This made this think on a broader scale. If i were to continue this piece and potentially take it to different places. I may not have the technical assistance that i had at the LPAC. This is a problem because if something went wrong and i wasn’t able to fix it then the piece would not work and ultimatley be unsuccessful.

Also i found that space was going to be a crucial element. The fact i wanted people to feel enclosed was a priority but with the projectors set as they were, the audience had almost no moving space with jeopardising a projector.

Thankfully with my set up, there was no need for added lighting as the projectors would light the space sufficiently, which again, when touring and requesting funding, is a big help.

Here are a few pictures from my tech session:

Modernism

December 2, 2014December 8, 2014 Shane Humberstone Exploration, Research

What is Modernism?

Arising in the early twentieth century, Modernism was a new wave of thinking, creating and performing. It is very difficult to pin point as one specific ideology and rather consists of several states of mind springing up around Europe. Ranging from script based educational pieces to non linear fragmented dances, modernism bought the voice of antagonism to performance.

A performance style did not unite these artists but several intertwining vexes that are arguably as topical today as they were know. At a similar time industrialisation was sweeping across the world after Britain’s success and expansion. This provoked concerns by many resulting in social unrest and a sense of self determination by those under the control by politicians and their politics. Almost hand in hand with politics and machinery is war. War is a key feature of modernist creativity and is something that potentially allows modernist to live on today.

Yang Shaobin

This is a painting by Yan Shaobin.

Using a canvas and a few oil paints he has depicted the pain and torment of oppression in China. As you can see in the painting it is not just subject matter that Shaobin uses as the modernists would. He shows mutilated bodies in a way to represent distortion and troubled souls.

Below is further proof that Shaobin is a modern day modernist. This installation is called Wound. Shaobin states ‘I’m still very much taken with the uniqueness of people. If I’m in the hospital I like looking at those people on the brink of death, with their bloodless nails and wound’ (Giuffardi, 2004). His work see the beauty in those in pain and in those who are suffering and draws attention to them.

Shaobin sculpture

Franz Kafka – Metamorphosis

Kafka’s novel tells the story of a man, Gregor Samsa, who ‘awoke one morning from troubled dreams, he found himself changed into a monstrous cockroach in his bed’ (Kafka, 2007, p. 87). The novel has had many mutilations itself of stage, screen and art, similar to the mutilation Kafka puts poor Gregor through. It’s open meaning has many interpretations such as the anxiety that a man of his profession faces in life. Whatever the adaptation is it always depicts a body that has been mutilated like the work of a modernist. furthermore, it certainly comments on an oppressive life that has been served to Gregor.

How it affects me…

Modernism is about the here and now and social consciousness. I believe that my plays are very contemporary in terms of writing style but also in terms of subject matter. I am exploring human emotion in the modern age not that of a 1920’s revolt, but still a society fuelling rebellion, outcry and war. The obscure techniques that some modernists use are interesting to me as i do not want audience who see my play, or those who read it, to fully understand what they are seeing. But like the modernist I have a goal. I want people to take hat they can from my play and then apply it to their lives. It may not result in the self realisation and revolution, which may have spawned from an Agit-Prop pop up performance, though as sense of realisation or reflection may occur.

So I thank the modernists for being brave and standing up, and for letting me continue to do so.

Works Cited

Giuffardi, M (2004) Interview with Yang Shaobin. [online] Beijing: Yang Shaobin. Available from: http://www.yang-shaobin.com/eng/htm/pinglun/2004-p/2004-1_main.htm [Accessed 2 December 2014].

Kafka, F. (2007) Metamorphosis and Other Stories. London: Penguin

Historiography- What is the point?

November 19, 2014December 8, 2014 Shane Humberstone Research

Historiography – ‘the pursuit of truths about the past within the conditions and constraints of possible knowledge’ (Postlewait, 2009, p.1)

Thomas Postlewait outlines that historians ‘must transform the artefacts into, develop supporting evidence for their hypotheses, place historical events in appropriate contexts…’ (2009, p. 1). In many cases this can be useful and help people develop an understanding of the past. Yet as a pro Stalin picture could have been staged and false, theatre documentation can be just as unreliable.

Alfred Jarry's Ubu doodle — Alfred Jarry’s Ubu doodle

Production of Ubu Roi — A 1964 production of Jarry’s Ubu Roi

Theatre is ephemeral. There are hundreds of ways, such as recording, reviews, pictures, of documenting theatre, but it is impossible to capture the spirit and liveness of the event. From past events, pre television, we have little actual sources, some reviews or accounts of the event, but they are through the lens of an onlooker and can only be seen as bias. Furthermore, we have the actual texts of scripts but there is no one of truly knowing whether Alfred Jarry wanted Ubu Roi to shock as it did (or has been reported), or how it truly felt to stand in the Globe through one of Shakespeare’s plays.

In addition, video recordings are just as unreliable. We are not watching a live performance, we are watching what someone else has watched. Someone has decided for us what we see and when. It certainly is a good thing to record these events especially in this way as aesthetics and general performances can be picked up and analysed but due to the ephemeral fleeting nature of live performance, some things can never be understood.

Why is Historiography important?

‘Every performance, if it is intelligible as such, embeds features of previous performances: gender conventions, racial histories, aesthetic traditions – political and cultural pressures that are consciously and unconsciously acknowledged’ (Diamond, 1996, p.1).

Like all fields, an understanding of drama’s past helps embellish and strengthen performances today and in the future. Not only can you learn from mistakes made from those of the past but also see how audiences reacted to certain things. For dramaturgs it is essential in order to educate their show with as much insight and knowledge as possible in order for it to be as successful as possible.

As a result of the importance of historiography, plays are haunted by its predecessors. Audiences do not arrive at a show oblivious to theatre as ‘Everything in the theatre, the bodies, the materials utilized, the language, the space itself, is now and has always been haunted, and that haunting has been an essential part of the theatre’s meaning to and reception by its audiences in all times and all places’ (Carlson, 2001, p.15). If a famous play such as Hamlet is being performed, an audience member brings with them several things. They may have seen a production, or several, of the play before and find themselves comparing the production to that which they have already seen. This can work with famous actors too. A famous actor will not only be seen as the role they a playing on stage but also previous roles in which audience members may recognise them from. This theme of ghosting can work in both a positive and negative sense depending on each of the externalities.

Below is a presentation on how Alan Bennet’s The History Boys is haunted by it’s original cast and the Britain in which it was set;

Works Cited

Carlson, M. (2003) The Haunted Stage: The Theatre as Memory Machine. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press

Diamond, E. (1996) Performance and Cultural Studies. Oxon and New York: Routledge.

Postlewait, T. (2009) The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Historiography. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Performance Update

November 17, 2014December 3, 2014 Shane Humberstone Practical

Here are some notes on the progress of the visual side to my performance.

I am sticking to the installation idea i have encompassing audience members in a box of four projectors.

On the first of the four walls will be my evolution of the Bittersweet Symphony music video. It will start with just fields to symbolise the ‘started from nothing’ mentality , which the song represents. This will then g into a darkened tour of the Holocaust memorial (Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe) in Berlin. The memorial is 2711 concrete slabs of different sizes. I am taking the visual of bleak concrete blocks as a sign of change, and arguably progression, from the plain flat fields. It will finally finish with my Lincoln version of the music video. I will film myself walking from the cathedral, a symbol of grandeur and hope, to the less fortunate parts of Lincoln. This will hopefully show the struggle and difference of different people throughout a single city.

The second of the projections is less complicated yet also less set. It will have archetypal pictures of people of today ranging from the Upper Class Kings Road “gentleman” to the East End street boy. I will remove the face of each picture and will stand in my boxers in front of it. This will play with the idea that we are all equal when we are naked. This is also playing hand in hand with the idea of other people’s projections on others.

The third I want to be both comical and shocking, polar opposites if possible. This projection will be showing people failing. It could be silly failing like falling off a skate board or more serious issues such as murder. Its intention is to show that whatevr we may expect there are going to be unforeseeable boundaries and challenges. this challenges may be so great that our dreams may not materialise. Furthermore it is inspired by a mantra made famous by the rapper 50 Cent, ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin”.

A Still from 'Get Rich or Die Tryin''. Taken from www.imgarcade.com — A Still from ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin”. Taken from www.imgarcade.com

The final projection will be a selection of Tweets and Facebook status’ expressing peoples dreams. It will show what the goals of our society are.

As all the films will be playing simultaneously this will create individual experiences as oppose to a unified audience collective experience. People will be able to pick and chose as of when then watch each of the videos.