T.G.I.Friday.doc

The title says it all. It's been a busy week - a full schedule of class with over 200 pages of reading plus two plays. That in addition to the unprecedented success of the previous 'fragmented' blog format has thrown this writer into a tailspin (should it be ADD-friendly obs. and musings every post??) For now I return to give an update before heading out for the weekend where upon my return I'll have plenty of catching up to do.

Wednesday evening I went with friends from the program to see Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea which is a play by a theatre group called 1927. It turns out Warwick Arts Centre attracts some of the best theatre companies in the country and this offering was no exception. The play was organized into a series of vignettes featuring two performers and a piano player. The interesting thing about this company is that their work is all multimedia/cartoon/projection based - it was one of the most innovative uses of multimedia I've ever seen. The general format is that there is a film of each vignette which is projected onto a screen and the performers insert themselves into the surrounding projection (i.e - projection of a forest scene with a performer playing Little Red Riding Hood at centre) Describing the work in this crude fashion does not do justice to the extremely creative images they were able to achieve through precise timing and a dedication to simplicity.

The highlight of the night though, oh dedicated reader, was when I myself was the object of ridicule. That's right. The second last vignette featured two eerie little twin girls (think the pair of dead twins in The Shining) who tell us that their baby-sitting grandmother ran off into the forest after she had had enough of their ridicule. They then proceed to wonder if anyone else would like to play with them - cue the house lights up. What followed next was the awkward shuffling and uncomfortable laughter that accompanies any moment when the audience is threatened with having to 'be included'. The two twins moved closer and after surveying the crowd, settled upon me and another man as the two possible candidates for participation. Even though I had averted eye contact as much as possible, I was in the second row and the chair in front of me was empty - I guess I made for easy pickings. After playing an excruciating game of "enny, meeny, minny, moe", I lost. I was escorted on stage, much to the amusement of the people I had come with and the general collective of which I was a part. I think there is always an odd sense of pity for the chosen member (Poor bloke!) but also relief that another lamb is given over to slaughter (Thank god it's not me!)

The twins lied. They were not looking for another playmate but rather a stand-in grandmother. They dressed me in her clothes and we walked behind the screen where, as we exited behind it, the film seamlessly bridged the gap and it appeared as if we had walked into the movie. While behind the screen I watched as the prerecorded "film" version in which me as granny gets ridiculed, beat up, and tortured by the little twins. Cleverly the film always shoots granny from behind so there is never any shot of the face, and thus the illusion is preserved. For my efforts I was given a bag of candy and some souvenirs from the show. The novelty of being "that poor bloke who got dragged up" was enough to quell the humiliation of what they did to me onstage. It's one thing to mount the stage as a performer and carry out a role, it's another thing to expect to be a spectator all evening and suddenly be thrust as yourself onstage in front of 120 people.

The end of today's classes concluded week 3 of the first 5 weeks of "intensive" lectures and seminars that will lead into group work and more focused projects. The discussions so far have been topics of which I had had no previous exposure so they've been extremely interesting. A little taste:

Archive and the Repertoire: The performance archive could be said to house documents, DVDs, scripts, programs, and all records of a performative event. The repertoire is 'embodied performance' that transmits knowledge orally and through action - this is the ephemeral.

Interculturalism: We discussed all the inherent problems with 'intercultural' performance - translation, reception, and the decoding of signs being the major points of interest.

Estrangement: Brecht comes up everywhere you look and this course is no different. We considered how the V-effect has permeated a variety of art forms and its manifestations today.

Cultural Memory and Performance / Liminality and Ritual: The Olympic games was examined as a form of cultural performance unlike any other in the world. How are the games a mix of spectacle, ritual, sport, and festival and when do these forms of performance threaten one another?

Performance and the Law: The concept of the 'Public Sphere' was discussed in regards to how to create theatre for civic engagement. We discussed so-called 'Utopian Performance' (Angels in America, The Laramie Project, and Def Poetry Jam) Michael, this was the article I was going to send you.

Celebrity, Authority, and 'It': The performance of Celebrity was quite an interesting topic. While we did consider figures in Hollywood, Brangelina for instance, we also touched on those who become unintentional celebrities - Anne Frank through her diary for example. My Canadian example of this type of celebrity with a lasting impact was Terry Fox.

Heteroglossia - The existence of two or more voices within a text. In this case, theatre with more than one language spoken. How does the reception of this type of work change? How do we negotiate between verisimilitude and artistic convention/accessibility.

Witness Protection Program - A visiting scholar gave a really engaging paper about the performative aspects of the Witness Protection Program. How is one expected to pick up and leave everything they know only to 'perform' a character for the rest of their lives? It's a complex concept once you step back from the romanticized film notion of the program.

Three weeks and, as you can tell, a variety of interesting topics.

Tonight some of the MAIPR student are headed to a residence party for our building. It should prove to be a laid-back little shinding. Since I'm planning on leaving for London tomorrow at 9:30, I'm going to call it an early night to really take advantage of the weekend. Later on down the pipeline is a blog about the show seen last evening from Forced Entertainment and of course a summary of the happenings in Londontown.

Doc's Prescription of the Day: No more audience participation theatre. Yikes. Have a great weekend everyone!