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Sunday, 10 Feb 2008
Writers for
We Need to Talk about Live Art
are: Tim Atack, Rachel Lois Clapham, Mary Patersonand Theron Schmidt.We’re here to spark debate and stimulate conversation. Each writer’s opinions are personal,
unltered, unspun and not necessarily shared by the group.Disagree? Leave your comments at the front desk, contact us at www.writingfromliveart.co.uk, or
come talk to us at the NRLA.
We Need to Talk about Live Art
is an independent project and is not afliated with the National Review of Live Art.
Sunday10 Feb 2008
page 1
We Need to Talk about Live Art
is a writer-led initiative made possible by support from
www.writingfromliveart.co.uk
www.liveartuk.com
Looking for Hope
Search Party,
The Long Walk to thePerformance
(Tramway 2)9 February 2008
Imagine that a performance could be rewrittenas a party. Imagine that a party could be recastas a space mission. Imagine that a tragedy
could be released like a balloon.In
The Long Walk to the Performance
, theemotional arcs of these various trajectoriesare brilliantly overlaid on top of each other,
folding and refolding our experiences into eachother in a performance whose complexity issustained by a remarkable lightness of touch.
The two performers Pete Phillips and JodieHawkes, have an unhurried ease, and it’s only
after ten minutes of beguilingly whimsical party
preparations that one of them speaks: “Thisis an announcement to the audience,” Phillips
Goodbye for now!
Well, this is the last printed edition. We’ve really been delighted with the feedback you’ve givenus about this writing project, and hope that you’ll keep giving us more. You might have a few
more questions ….
Where can I nd old issues?
We’ll put PDFs up on the Writing from Live Art website,
www.writingfromliveart.co.uk
. We’ll tryto do this soon.
How can I reach you?
We’d love to hear more comments, or to keep a conversation going, or especially to discuss anyexciting writing or publication opportunities you have in mind. Here’s how to reach us:
Tim: timatack@hotmail.com
Rachel Lois: rachelloisclapham@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/whereisrachellois
Mary: marypaterson@gmail.com
Theron: theron_schmidt@hotmail.com, www.newworknetwork.org.uk/theronYou can leave attributed or anonymous comments at the Writing from Live Art website, www.writingfromliveart.co.uk. We’d love to hear them.
Will this happen again next year?
Yes, that’s a good question.
Writers for
We Need to Talk about Live Art
are: Tim Atack, Rachel Lois Clapham, Mary Patersonand Theron Schmidt.We’re here to spark debate and stimulate conversation. Each writer’s opinions are personal,
unltered, unspun and not necessarily shared by the group.Disagree? Leave your comments at the front desk, contact us at www.writingfromliveart.co.uk, or
come talk to us at the NRLA.
We Need to Talk about Live Art
is an independent project and is not afliated with the National Review of Live Art.
Sunday10 Feb 2008
page 2
We Need to Talk about Live Art
is a writer-led initiative made possible by support from
www.writingfromliveart.co.uk
www.liveartuk.comWriters for
We Need to Talk about Live Art
are: Tim Atack, Rachel Lois Clapham, Mary Patersonand Theron Schmidt.
We Need to Talk about Live Art
is an independent project and is not afliated with the National Review of Live Art.
says, in a phrase that becomes familiar over the
course of the piece. “We are currently watchingJodie orbiting the moon.”
And, yes, just like that, we are. And just as
easily we’re watching the whale that swam upthe Thames. And just as easily we’re all partyingat what for many is the last night of the NRLA.And just as easily we’re all outside, staring upat our hopes and fears for what the night sky
holds. It’s a mystery to me how easy this allfeels, and how a journey so laden with despaircan be so joyful and clear.
The common thesis to the various stages
of the performance is that all our collective
experiences basically unfold in the same way:there’s a beginning, and a bit where we’re alltogether and all full of hope, then a bit whereit starts to go wrong and we wonder why we’rewatching this. Then there’s a point where werealise it’s going to end badly, and we start
to despair. And then there’s the end. In
TheLong Walk
, this is the bit where the performers
address the audience and apologise for havingmade them watch it, and promise to try again.
But each story becomes more and more
symptomatic of the same gloom, so that by theend we are racing through the many “tragediesof Trevor”, some of which can be told in a singlesentence (the tragedy of Trevor and the avianbird u, the tragedy of Trevor and his girlfriend).At the same time, each dire ending is also apunchline, a setup for the next joke, a return to
the basic fact that we’re all in the same room
together and that as a result there is fun to be
had.
Maybe it’s just the effect of seeing this work at
the NRLA, but it seems as if many of the themesof
The Long Walk
are the same themes I’ve
seen all week. Madness. The genderedness of power. Despair. Longing for connection. The
possibility of hope. But it’s such a relief and arevelation tosee themaddressedwith such afresh andbuoyantstyle. It’s areminder that
pushing the
boundariesof performance doesn’t have to mean that
the performance experience becomes
harder
;there are other boundaries than the ones that
are usually pushed, and Search Party is nding
them.
written by Theron Schmidt
Beginnings and Endings
Roy Peters / Stichting Watergat,
End of Story
(Tramway 4)9 February 2008
The beginning of
End of Story
is an ending, or so the programme says. It feels like a beginningto me. As an audience, we are hushed, waitingfor something to happen, prepared, in fact, for
it to be hard work (we were asked in the queueto ‘commit to the full hour’, rather than leave
too readily). On stage, three men stare at eachother, looking suspicious and poised for action.Even the lights creak in anticipation.
An hour later, and I understand that this was
not a beginning - not in the sense of preparationor becoming. Instead it was an entry point
into a continuous system acted out with
chilling perfection by Jakob Ahlbom, AndreasScharfenberg and Melih Genconbayaci. For the duration of the performance, these men full
Photo: Search Party
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