staged / theatre / étape

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

This new work is site-specific and will be bespoke for the stage of the Theatre de la Ville.

Between three to five or more performers occupy the stage or theatre. There is no interaction with each other, each performer and actions are isolated from the others. They proceed to unravel a sequence of repetitive actions. Some moving across the stage, others remain stationary, some sit, others standing - this is nothing between them. No eye contact - they are in a world of their own.

Their actions are performed to a set of instructions that refer to the actual building, interior and exterior - seen and unseen.

For example the size of the stage, the footsteps taken to cross. One action is to describe what is seen from the performers point of view. Describing the audience or the lights. There are various numbers read out aloud - how many seats are in the theatre the width and dimensions of the space. There is sometimes everything at once as the performers are working to their own instructions and timings.

The performance last for 9 minutes and the back projection is large time-code counting down, this is connected to the sound.

There are some performers hidden from the view of the audience, they may be below the stage or above the stage. There may be a live audio link or they just might shout and make noise acoustically.

Devising the actions depend completely on the actuality of the building. Both of the authors have an established reputation for site specific work. Equally with the sound/music it will be influenced, sourced and referenced from the sounds of the building itself, lifts, boiler rooms, air con etc.

This work follows from two collaborations between Terry Smith and Randolph Matthews, Mirror Mirror (September 2021) and Shadows (December 2021) Shadows incorporates many different and diverse source material, drawn from personal experiences, observations with influences including Kafka’s 'The Metamorphosis', Mary Shelly’s 'Frankenstein' and the sound of the dysfunctional beer dispensing machine in the theatre bar. The buildings own particular quirks and sounds were a significant factor in this site-specific performance work.

OTHER STUFF SITE SPECIFIC

Smith’s entire art production is in one way or another site-specific. Creating interventions and disruptions in buildings and museums world-wide, including The British Museum, MACBA in Barcelona and at the Drawing Center in NY.

During Lockdown in 2020 he began a series of workshops, trying out ideas, sketching actions and movements and stitching them together sometimes into a whole, sometimes as fragments

These workshops cumulated into a live performance with five performers drawn from different performance genres, from dance, performance art and music. The piece was called Mirror Mirror and used as a starting point music from John Cage.

His influences include but are not exclusive to artists John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Robert Rauschenberg, Bruce Nauman, Pina Bausch, Boris Charmatz, Anne Teresa Keersmaeker. Theatre of Mistakes, Station House Opera.

This new collaborative work follows on from 'Mirror Mirror' presented at the Quarterhouse in September and Shadows in December.

This is a new performance partnership between Smith and Matthews explores space and site, visually and acoustically.

But also..

Its not just about being on the stage but in a sense inhabiting the idea of what a stage is; a platform, an imagination, a gathering, an observation.

And who are the people watching? audience, spectators, witness, by-standers, participants, admirers, onlookers, viewers, congregation, public, followers, crowds, groups where and how is the line drawn.

In Mirror Mirror the audience were placed around the light ‘staged’ area. They would all have a different viewpoint. As disruption is in our DNA, one of the photographers documenting the space, who is a world renowned photographer of performance art - Manuel Vason, at one moment, crossed the line between audience and performer and interacted with the performers, making his way across the stage, sometimes getting in the way of the performers.

In Shadows the audience arrived, brought into the auditorium in small groups and sat in chairs in the performing stage area. The full house lights were on, there was no stage lighting, just a sound of a distant hum of a machine.

They were no longer outside the performance area, but in the middle. The lights were turned off, the performer appeared above them on the lighting grid, gradually tumbling along until he leaves the area. He appears next on the stage walking through, by now three streaks of light cut across the floor, the seats were arranged to be at the edges of the light. The performer also cuts through the audience moving between them. At the end the performer leaves the area. The ushers enter and take the audience out a few at a time, the sound and the lighting stay in place during this moment. There is no space for applause.

conditions of service

the work is designed to be site specific that is it is a hybrid of a response to the physical condition of the building but also