- Rotozaza is a performance company based in UK formed in 1998, composed of Ant Hampton and Silvia Mercuriali. They are known primarily for their instructional works for headphones where the audience perform the piece themselves for each other. This includes Etiquette and GuruGuru.
- We have taken inspiration from their works for our piece, incorporating instructions given over headphones. Instructions also reflect the history of the Drill Hall for us as Sergeants and officers gave soldiers orders that had to be followed.
- Etiquette is performed in cafes and coffee shops, places of conversation. Interactions happen all day everyday in these spaces. Therefore the site is used for its original purpose in the performance.
- We will now watch a short video (Get up and click play)https://vimeo.com/120873104
- ‘What becomes important is not just the geographical place in which the work is sited but also the social practices that are engendered as part of the space-making processes of the particular site.’ – (Govan et al, 2007, 121)
- The actors are the only informed audience, making it intimate like a real conversation. The public in the café are not aware of the performance going on.
- ‘Conversation is shown to be a kind of theatre whereby ‘audience’ and ‘actor’ roles are imperceptibly assumed and exchanged’ – Rotozaza review from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2007
- ‘Participants find themselves exchanging audience and performers roles by simply following instructions’ – Rotozaza review from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, 2007
- Some Etiquette performances have been recorded and posted online for easier access for a wider audience. The audio track is also available in several different languages for performances around the world.
- In GuruGuru’ five participants are led by a sixth, on-screen, animated and somewhat disturbing character whose twin roles of marketing and spiritual Guru are confused by his reliance on untested and accident-prone technologies.’ Ant Hampton’s website http://www.anthampton.com/guruguru2.html
- We will now watch a short excerpt (Get up and click play, start at 1.30 then pause at 2.18)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjUg1i-X0x0
- The participants sit in a semi-circle, enabling them to see and be seen. This breaks the barrier of actor or audience.
- Without giving away too much, I can tell you that for 50 minutes, I sat on a named seat (‘Dickie’ to correspond with my name tag) in a non-confrontational group therapy style semi circle with the other four participants, facing a TV monitor, while we were each sporadically given instructions for what to do and say via headphones. And I thoroughly enjoyed it.’…
- …‘As someone with a strong dislike for enforced participation and ‘organised fun’, this may seem to be quite a turn up for the books, but there could be a number of factors that contributed to this (…) The piece unfolds into exactly the kind of performance I enjoy, with quite ordinary people saying quite ordinary things in an increasingly un-ordinary situation, carefully engineered by the artists. And they successfully manage to construct a sense of temporary community without even being in the room!’ – from “Tonight Matthew, I’m going to be Dickie…” by Rachel Dobbs. http://rachel.we-are-low-profile.com/tonight-matthew-im-going-to-be-dickie/
- The piece is not well-documented or accessed as the group wish to keep it private in order for maximum impact on participants.
- Thank you for listening.
Bibliography:
Govan, E., Nicholson, H. and Normington, K. (2007) Making a Performance. New York: Routledge.