Thirty – The Performance
The final piece was performed on Thursday 17th May 2012, Studio 2 19:00.
On the morning of the performance the atmosphere in the group was positive, personally I felt that we were extremely prepared and could not have done anymore. Only performing would take this piece to the next stage. We set up with plenty of time to spare, experimenting with lighting and the projections. Previously we had discussed where to seat the audience, if at all. We had an immigration statistic and would transport the audience around the studio, representing the statistic. After pursuing this in the work in progress we felt that it over complicated matters and was unnecessary. Therefore deciding on seating the audience in straight rows so that they could simply view the statistics. Another point which caused us trouble was who we were in relation to the audience and the performance, after numerous discussions on this we agreed that we were scientists/researchers, displaying statistics for others to interpret and absorb.
As the performance began we all suddenly felt apprehensive and overwhelmed, the tasks we had discussed for weeks were about to began. Although we had rehearsed for 15 minutes we had nrver done a full 30 minutes, looking back, a bad choice. As the perfomance took its course it became apparent very quickly that we dis not have enough time to complete all the tasks. Half way through I could feel the audience really connect and will us on, becoming emotionally connected to us as performers which I did not expect. Almost wanting to give the tasks to the audience to help, like a life or death situation. As actors we were so focused and I think that this completely drew the audience in, using the silence of the room to heighten and exaggerate emotions within the room. Personally, as the time ran out the pressure mixed with the amount of water and beer became unbearable, questioning our stamina as actors. The time ran out and tasks were uncompleted, this had never happened before. I didn’t know how the other performers or audience would react to this, had we failed? I didn’t think we had, we successfully did what we set out to do, represent statistics.
This experience has been completely new to me and I have enjoyed being a part of a new performance style. I have learnt not to over complicate things when devising theatre. I still standby our choice not to rehearse these tasks repeatedly, the honestness of them would have disappeared, thus causing us to ‘perform’ rather than undertake challenges. We accomplished what we set out to do as a team, working together throughout.