Smallest Stage in the World?

Thinking along the lines of International Festival's disco, I got thinking about stages and how people seem to act in a different way towards the people who are on them. There's a whole list of conventions such as not speaking too loud in pclose proximity, not going too close, not asking questions to the performer, that people seem to adhere to (although massively varying, depending on certain factors such as place, audience and performance types) and it would be interesting to test the boundaries of that. Where does the performance space begin and end? I spent last Saturday in the National Theatre's foyer where they have a stage and some seats right in the middle of a really busy spot. The public there are obviously a 'good' (respectful to the performer) audience giving room for the musicians and seated audience by not walking in between them. I wonder what would happen if you were to take that stage and place it elsewhere though. I'd guess that taking it outside onto the southbank would give a pretty similar result, the southbank being a parade for convention-obeying, culture-loving Londoner. But take it, say, a couple of miles south (the direction to which the theatre, architecturally speaking, turns its back) to the centre of Elephant and Castle shopping centre I doubt that the response would be the same.
Speakers Corner, pictured above, has it's own set of conventions. It is a place where spectator can respond to and challenge the political speeches, but the attention is always drawn back to the one one the stage. Interestingly, these stages are never very big and are usually very makeshift or just a set of two-step step ladders, but they do aid the focus back to speaker.

International Festival: Mobile Disco

International Festival have interested me for about a year now. A duo made up of an architect and a choreographer, they aim to fuse architecture and performance, and do away with the boundary between spectator and viewer. Swedish, but working throughout Europe they have a wide variation of work. This photo, taken from their website, is part of the mobile disco they created one night in Graz, Austria, this summer. What I find interesting here, is the way that redefine surrounding architecture by the way that they inhabit and make use of the existing spaces they use.
Start Me Up is the current project they have running at the Tate Liverpool starting tomorrow until 14th Feb. Basically it's a modular film-set installation that can be reconfigured to provide platforms for performances and activities. For more information on that, click here.
The way that the duo work together acts as a big inspiration as they both redefine their practices, by intelligently and playfully collaborating, creating new an exciting opportunities for architecture and performance. I hope to visit the installation in Liverpool over Christmas, as a means of developing the research into the National Performance Venue. I aim to discover how they simplify essential elements and requirements for performance, and look forward to seeing how successful it is. I'll be looking for things like how easy it is for the public to be involved in the installation, what rules (if any) they have set up, and what guidance they give.

In order to have a better idea of an audiences and performer's specific movements and requirements before i go into starting any designs, I have begun a process of tracking and mapping out information from various venues. Here's an example of the National Theatre concert pitch last Saturday afternoon.

What i found particularly interesting about this free performance that takes place before another, much larger, performance is the way that the public move. This stage and seating set up is situated right in a thoroughfare between the main entrance, cloakroom and bar. The public's movements generally changed once the performance had begun, creating a space between the stage and the small block of seating, even considering the small amount of space left to move through.

In these models i have represented the movements of the public in three stages. Firstly, the movement leading up to the start of the performance (green). Second, the movements whilst the performance was taking place, (represented in red) and finally the movements once the performance ended (shown in blue)

Psychosis Analysis.

The performance was advertised throughout the college as part of a 5-day private view. An audience of about 20 people come to view it. The way the audience entered the space was through the main corridor from the main stairways to the print studios. The print studios acted as a kind of interim foyer space between the main corridor and the enclosed space where the performance took place.

This model shows the audience coming from two initial directions, the ends of the main corridor, feeding through a doorway into the print studio. This acted as a main gathering space where drinks were provided.

The doors to the performance space were then opened, allowing the spectators to enter the room. The performance started...and ended. Doors reopened and most left straight away, making their way upstairs to the rest of the private view.

The model also represents the movements that I made, as the performer, before and after the performance.

4.48 PSYCHOSIS

Last week a friend and I staged a performance based on four lines from page 20 of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis. This performance was part of a bigger process of mapping the preperation that I, as the performer undertook, as well as tracking how the audience moved towards the event, and where they were located before, during, and after the event.