ReAlity - Bacchus

So, I wrote this a while ago and figured that I might as well post it.

Since I wrote this as academic work it is solely read only. If you wish to use it in anyway to gain credit please ask permission.


University of Hull, Scarborough Campus
Performance Studio 2
October 09

In a dimly lit room, with rectangles marked upon the floor containing various objects, ReAlity invites the spectator to interact with items, participate in activities, engage in chat and to experience a taster of contemporary theatre. Among other activities, one can write upon the floor with chalk, enjoy tea and biscuits with their friends or even tell everyone a little about themselves using a microphone placed under a spotlight. ReAlity is, essentially, unlike most other shows and performances because, rather than merely breaking the "fourth wall" that is so highly valued by naturalistic practitioners such as Stanislavski, ReAlity obliterates it and turns conventional theatre on it's head by inviting the spectators to become the performers, and the performers to become facilitators.

ReAlity was held together by how much participation it required from the audience. This became obvious as one explored it’s stage and started to notice inviting messages placed in the rectangular boxes, encouraging the spectators to engage objects within them. The performers in the room also encouraged one to interact by engaging in conversation and explaining what ReAlity was, thus helping one to become more comfortable and therefore more likely to participate. This gentle encouragement by either messages written on the floor and the members of Bacchus helped one to commit to taking part and engaging with the items placed around the room.

The performance was what many might describe as disturbing due to its slightly Brechtian nature - it was trying to convey a message that was not shrouded in naturalistic and highly detailed sets, costumes, action or music. However, from a critical point of view, what made it most disturbing is how much it relied upon the participation of the spectators as it was it’s weakest point. If a spectator did not feel comfortable taking part in the action then the performance had failed, because it had not engaged a spectators attention. This failure was furthered by the fact that ReAlity is a contemporary piece of theatre. This could add to how uncomfortable people might feel due to either lack of knowledge about and/or lack of admiration for contemporary theatre. However, as highlighted earlier, this also attributes to the performance’s strongest feature, which was its ability in persuading the spectators to interact with the items within the space.

The space presented in ReAlity was devoid of decoration or set and was purely functional having been divided up into sections in order to accommodate different activities. In lieu of stage or setting, the properties or the objects placed inside of these rectangles is what was important and what set the scene. This meant that a spectator’s attention was stripped from sets or costumes and instead placed upon the properties. One could say that the space was divided into ‘mini performances‘, and the action of spectators stepping into these spaces initiated a purely improvisational, personal, piece of performance. For example, in the “iPlay” section, spectators were allowed to choose their own music using either an MP3 player that was already there or their own. This created a personal experience related directly to that spectator and the objects - the speakers and the MP3 player - that didn’t depend on scene or set. This non-reliance upon set or scene to portray meaning is exemplified by the lack of colour seen in the performance. Black walls and floors with vivid white rectangles shows that ReAlity has no dependence upon set or scene and therefore only relies upon properties, performers and the spectators in order to assemble a performance. This non reliance upon set could be seen as one of ReAlity’s strongest points as it makes the performance an extremely versatile piece, which is in stark contrast to the absolute dependence upon spectator interaction highlighted earlier as one of the performances weakest points.

Whilst not relying at all upon set and scene, ReAlity had some rather simple, yet effective lighting. This consisted of what appeared to be very low hanging domestic lamps that were lowered to a rather dim glow. This dim glow seem to serve two purposes. One was to make sure that the power of the light didn’t overpower that of the projector which, routed to a computer, allowed spectators to access Facebook or any social networking website of their choice. The other, was to provide a relaxing source of light. Low power lamps that display a warm glow are more likely to appear relaxing because they are not harsh upon the eyes. This warm glow is simulated within ReAlity in what could be perceived an attempt to relax the spectators in a calming atmosphere, thus lulling them into a sense of security, making them more likely to engage with the objects and properties placed around the room. This lighting is another of ReAlity’s strongest points as its function is to increase spectator participation which is the glue that holds the elements of ReAlity together in order to form a cohesive performance.

As mentioned briefly before, in tandem with the spectators, the stage properties are the most important element of ReAlity. They help to form the glue which holds the performance together. The stage properties, in this case, are the objects in the rectangles and included costumes, cameras, televisions, a microphone, a table and chairs, a computer, books, a post box, and chalk. These items were there for the spectators to engage with and use in order to initiate a series of what one might describe as ‘mini performances’ as highlighted earlier. The placement of properties helped to make the stage resemble a social networking site which helped to display one of the main themes that was present in ReAlity; exploring and celebrating the impact that social networking sites have had on human social interaction, on both virtual and physical levels (ReAlity 31/10/2009 ReAlity Facebook Page n.d.) The use of stage properties then help to both hold the performance together, but also to display one of it’s main themes and therefore can be seen as extremely important within ReAlity.

In conclusion, one can see how the various elements of theatre within the performance come together to display the main topic of ReAlity, which is to see what impact that social networking sites have upon human connections and social interaction. This guides one to the question - is the interaction of man becoming the interaction of screens? (van Koten 20/10/09 - The Digital Image and the Pleasure Principle: the Consumption of Realism in the Age of Simulation, 2005) ReAlity rather points one to the answer ‘yes’ as it endeavours to portray that social networking sites have become a rather compressed reality in which smaller, more compact versions of life take place. This is reflected in the mini performances that can be seen taking place in the black box theatre in which ReAlity was housed. This idea can’t help but make one think maybe, as a society we should be spending less time interacting through screens, but rather interacting upon a physical level - something which modern technology seems to have taken away from us.

Copyright - Freddie Porter