On Friday we went to the Drill Hall undecided on what our final piece would be based on and the structure it would take. Upon more research we discovered that the architect of the Drill Hall was a gentleman called Goddard whose company has had six generations of architects. We felt Goddard might be a good starting point for our piece and went to the archives in the hopes of finding blue prints for the Drill Hall.
Unfortunately there were no blue prints and very little information about Goddard and his contribution to the Drill Hall. However there were many documents regarding the official opening of the building. Then inspiration struck us. What if to celebrate the Drill Hall’s 125th Anniversary we replicated the opening ceremony? Ruston gave the Drill Hall to the people of the city of Lincoln in the late 1800s therefore our piece would perhaps symbolise us giving the Drill Hall back to the people of Lincoln but to a new a generation who are perhaps unaware of its fascinating history.
There was an article at the archives that was a step-by-step manuscript of the opening ceremony, along with a menu and an invitation. Instead of recreating the opening ceremony literally, we had the idea of creating a “performance [that] works with and on all senses of the audience” (Pearson, 2010, 141). People nowadays have become so accustomed to watching things and having their brain stimulated in a visual sense. Therefore we thought that “the visual need not take precedent” (Pearson, 2010, 141), and that if we were to take away the visual component of a performance the other senses such as your sense of smell or your hearing would become more heightened and perhaps make more of a connection with the audience and create more of an interactive performance.
We are very much looking forward to exploring this idea further and playing around with the senses.
Pearson, M. (2010) Site-Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrace Macmillan.