Issue: Making theatre happen in gig/club environments – any ideas?
Convener(s): Alex Brown
Participants:
Lucy Oliver Harrison Simon Pollard
Tamar Daly Eleanor Heidingsfield
Plus others (please add your names)
Summary of discussion, conclusions and/or recommendations:
Two broad types identified: Theatre that is set in a club or pub
Theatrical events that happen during a club/gig
What can theatre bring to a club atmosphere?
-Narrative
-Interaction
-A way to shape or focus the collective experience of the audience
What are the potential problems?
-People can’t hear
-People get bored
-People are drunk
-Theatre will ‘get in the way’ of people connecting to the music and each other
-The ‘Massive Passive’ (also know as the Hanky Wankies) who don’t engage with the theatrical element of the evening
Interesting things to consider when working in club environments:
-What contract to do you want to establish with the audience
(eg how to do you ask them to interact with the event?)
-How do you engage with the space?
-What can we learn from the way the DJ’s interact with and shape atmosphere?
-The Song – shorter, driven towards the experience of closure. A good blueprint for theatrical ‘excerpts’ which can be presented
-Collective Joy – the connection to ritual worship (see Barbara Ehrinwright’s (quite possibly spelt wrong!) book ‘Collective Joy – dancing in the streets’)
-Durational work allows people to drop in and out
-World Creation - How can we change peoples worlds when they enter and exit the space?
Active or Passive?
-Interaction and character walkabout ask for an active audience
- Music/Visuals can be presented for people to ‘soak up’ in a passive way
What work to make and how?
-Curate an event that brings together artists from different disciplines
-Encourage them to be flexible and adapt to the audience and space as they find it
-What will the transitions between acts be like?
-What ties the experience together for the audience?
Work / Places that were mentioned and discussed
Duckie – performance club night at RVT (Royal Vauxhall Tavern)
Donkey Show – Midsummer Night’s Dream set in a club
Punchdrunk’s Masque of the Red Death – immersive theatrical experience that filled the entire BAC building
Nabokov Arts Club – new writing, bands and dj’s all in the same event
Secret Cinema – screenings of films in secret locations with themed performance surrounding the film screening
August Osage County – Musical at the National that had the audience up and dancing
Fela! – Musical at the National that uses the format of live gig to tell the story of musician Fela Kuti
David Byrne/ Robert Wilson collaboration (didn’t write the name down!)
Theatre Royal Stratford East – big audience reactions and involvement in the material
Late 80’s rave culture – phone the party line to find the location
Santa Con – lots of Santa’s singing to the public
Flash Mobs
ARG – Alternate Reality Games Live games involving film, internet and real action. A treasure hunt that leads the audience into a game that is played across several performance platforms. The recent Batman movie launch had one, and there was also..
The Accomplice – Menier Chocoloate Factory show that had people searching all around the South Bank in a treasure hunt style game. There was also…
Hide and Seek’s Sherlock Holmes event
Torture Garden – The ‘tip of the ice berg’ of fetish parties. People recreate themselves and live a fantasy life. Of interest to anyone looking to work in club/gig enviroments
La Fura de las Baus – Big, mad performance events on a large scale. Trance music soundtrack, big visual events , chainsaws!
Fresh from the Oven – Brighton based performance events, improvised element to the work that morphs the fit the space and audience as the performers find it
Temple Works – venue in Leeds that has had a lot of interesting events pass through
176 Chalk Farm – worth a look
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