Vital Spaces Company has been riding the train.
November has seen two invisible performances - one in Exeter city centre's bus system and the other on First Great Western's commuter train from Exeter to Newton Abbot.
The process and workshop development of these performances involved the company's usual method of extended riffing. We spent about four studio sessions in developing the devised material - some of which was recycled from other work being done by company members.
The process and workshop development of these performances involved the company's usual method of extended riffing. We spent about four studio sessions in developing the devised material - some of which was recycled from other work being done by company members.
The process began with a simple 'nothing's too crazy' brainstorm session - the products of which can be seen here:
barbershop quartet
karaoke machine
sponanteous tour led by strange guide
pulling faces across a crowded carriage
strangers rendezvous
sponanteous romance
dressing up as stereotypical 'youths' but reading Hamlet or War and Peace
shadow puppetry in the aisle
reverse panhandling: giving away spare change
vending unusual objects - lucky dip
free hug tshirts
playing frisbee in the carriage
simple but interesting conversation in public - epic story, too intimate, etc.
mobile phones and uncomfortable public intimacy
genuine wizard belief - being in Harry Potter
pyjamas, teddies, sleep time
slow motion
quintuplets - all in babygrows
nativity scene
caroling
impromptu massage
sing songs - take requests
busking, instrumental music randomly played
blast classical music from a boombox
conga in the aisle
From this no-holds-barred place, we narrowed the options down to a core 5 which we felt had dramatic potential, could be effectively (aesthetically) actualised, and which would 'do the job'. The goal was the subvert expectations about how young people perform identity in public spaces. The method was an invisible, grounded, subtle performance which would leave people unaware they'd just witnessed a fiction.
We rehearsed and finalised our five pieces:
Fictional mobile phone conversations (solo pieces)
Two 'unusual' conversations (duo pieces)
Impromptu serenade (duo musical piece)
Going to Wizarding School (ensemble piece)
These pieces were finally developed into a series of fluid and adjustable sequences, and performed. Scenes from the train performance are shown in the short film below.
