Our piece consists of wearing T-Shirts with QR codes that people can scan. Our original plan was for the codes to lead to links about liberation and consumerism. However we concluded this was taking the themes too literally. Instead we have decided that the links we wear should be personal to us. As we walk round the city with our QR codes our fundamental aim is to lift a person out of the present and transport them to a different time and place, to make them think of something else, to make them pause their busy lives, even if it is only for a few minutes.

To do this we needed the personal touch, if we bombarded the audience with facts and figures about consumerism, effectively guilt-tripping them, we did not feel this would get the intended response. By making the links personal it gives an audience more opportunities to think, to stop, to reminisce. This idea was influenced by the performance we saw this year; I Wish I Was Lonely. In this production the two actors did indeed include many statistical facts and figures about technology, however they broke this up with touching, personal stories. For example the story of a miscarriage. This touch of the personal made it easier for an audience to trust them, made it a more comfortable environment to actively participate in.

We want to include this concept n our performance. By making the links personal we give the audience our trust, we are sharing intimate memories and experiences, even if we don’t directly reference ourselves, the sense of intimacy and vulnerability will be evident. This also makes our links more relatable, they make an audience think about their own past,their own moments of vulnerability. This nostalgia will make them pause in their lives and think about their past, even if it is for a moment, we will have achieved our objective of making them stop their lives and think about something else.

Walker, H. J. and Thorpe, C. (2015) I Wish I Was Lonely. [performance] Hannah Jane Walker and Chris Thorpe (dir.) Lincoln: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, 11 February.

One aspect of Site-specific that I enjoy looking at is the idea that anywhere and everywhere you go has a history, a lineage. Whether good or bad every site has a past. I find it amazing to think that when we perform of pieces we will be adding to those long and full histories. My interest in this concept increased even further after I read Etchell’s ‘Eight Fragment’s on Theatre and City. Etchell also talks about the history of a place, but he has a particular focus that I was personally responsive to; Folk Tales.

I have always enjoyed learning about myths and legends and Etchell made me rethink them all. How do they come about? Are they created? Are they indeed based upon real events and people? Etchell created a folk story about a man that keeps the city safe; “People say he used to be an architect and now he’s a powerful magician who has slipped through the cracks in the welfare system.” Etchell created a legend, a tale, which I responded to. It made me realise the power that historical stories and the contortion of those stories can have upon a place. For example in Nottingham they have made the folk tale of Robin Hood a key part of their county and their heritage, they proudly associate themselves with the tale, perhaps to feel even closer to history, to their past.

This is an idea that I want to incorporate into my groups performance. We are walking around the site with QR codes on our t-shirts for people to scan. The idea is to temporarily take them out of the city atmosphere, so the content will be in complete contrast to the city, but, also linked to its history. We are having a theme of nostalgia, some codes will link to a place that reminds us of something personal, some will link to the history of the site. This is why I want one of my QR codes to include a link to a folk tale or legend that originates from Lincoln. And if one does not exist I want to create one of my own. That would be an extraordinary experience, as I would not only be adding to the history of the site but also creating history for the site.

Etchell, T. (1999) Certain Fragments. Eight Fragments on Theatre and City. London: Routledge.

As I read through A Sardine Street Box of Tricks I became inspired by how they were attached to their site, Queen Street. They seem in tune to how their site and the people inhabit it intertwine. This is something that is integral to our piece. “We adopted the street as as a zone of encounters; an affordance for meeting with the street’s workers, walkers…” (Crabman and Signpost, 2011, 20) After reading the book walking the site has enabled me to have a different perceptive. To have greater connection with the high street. I have found ways to explore through a tour, whether it be audio or otherwise, a version of a city that is personal to the individual.

This quiet city still is buzzing with the ability to create a world that could change someone’s perceptive. That is a real goal of ours, to change someone’s outlook on life, even for a moment. So if that means them joining in or jumping in the deep in as it were then so be it, but it seems that if we want to take these people on a journey and change their views they have to be willing. “They carried, tasted, drank, scrambled.” (Crabman and Signpost, 2011, 26) Again Crabman and Signpost have entered into a trusting relationship with their audience members meaning that they actually fully throw themselves into the task in hand. This is what we have to aim for and what we will be working on in the next couple of weeks.

Persighetti, S., Smith, P. (2011) A Sardine Street Box of Tricks. Plymouth: Blurb Inc.

Once again my idea for the piece has drastically changed. Rather than following up on the idea of an audience utilising QR codes to gain information from St Peters passage, I have decided to film the alley with a 3D camera and relocate it to a studio. This is due to two reasons; one being that of safety as the location is often unsafe during the night and therefore wouldn’t be adequate to take an audience down there and the other is that the piece would be more effective in a studio. In addition, I believe that placing an audience in a dark, atmospheric room while watching the passage unveil before them in 3D is more effective than having an audience walk down the alley in a large group. As well as the audience watching the passage appear before them, I have decided to add speech throughout the piece. This will add variety to what the audience is watching and perhaps alert them to the different aspects of the passage which they may not have noticed before. An example of a passage I may use is based on the work of Georges Perec and his book An attempt at exhausting a place in Paris (Perec, 2010). Throughout the book, Perec describes in great detail the events which unfold in a certain location in Paris over three days. For example, Perec constantly notes the passing of buses, although this happens so frequently that Perec states ‘I’ve lost all interest in them’ (Perec, 2010, 29). The detail in which Perec describes the events in Paris is something in which I wish to capitalise on with my piece. This is because Perec begins to notice things which usually aren’t noticed such as the ‘slight change in the light’ (Perec, 2010, 36), therefore if I utilise this for my piece I can alert the audience of the little nooks and crannies of St Peter’s passage. Thus, allowing the audience to gain a different and more intricate insight into the location.

This is an example of things unnoticed on St Peter’s passage. What happend here? Who did these marks? Why are they here?

Perec, G. (2010) An Attempt At Exhausting A Place In Paris. Translated from French by Marc Lowenthal. Cambridge: Wakefield Press.