The feedback we received from our working progress has been very helpful. Before the feedback our ideas about our performance had been unclear and confusing as to what we were trying to show. There were positives to the feedback such as the strong image in the upstairs windows and at first people did not realise what was going on. One of the main issues that came up was that there needed to be a stronger connection between the two happenings and a much stronger link to the café overall. Our idea of making the café an exhibition was positive however the feedback made us realise that there needed to be more to the whole idea as it was getting lost in and among the other ideas. We need to focus specifically on the objects and the people in the café, as to how we will do this is the question. Our discussion afterwards brought the idea of making everything in the café an exhibit by placing placards on the tables, plants, walls and windows, with quotes from the conversations we have overheard and the people we have seen.
Another question that has developed from this session was how we are marketing the performance and more importantly the question of our audience; where do we want them? What time do we want them? Our performance has no precise finish; we don’t want a standing, static audience that crowds the café. I think that if we think about our audience more carefully, then it will help us rethink our performance and perhaps make our idea clearer. We have discussed the idea of our performance being similar to an installation.
“Usually it is three- dimensional, temporary and can be entered and possibly interacted with by its audience/spectators.”
“Like environmental theatre and site specific performance, installation art compels its audiences to reflect on the meanings and histories of its site” (Allain and Harvie, 2006, p 162-163)
This way we can think more carefully about our performance, knowing the details about what our audience will be like.
Works Cited:
Allain, Paul and Jen, Harvie (2006) The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance, London: Routledge.