In Etchell’s ‘Eight Fragment’s on Theatre and City I have chosen to discuss three of the eight ‘fragments’ which I found interesting and which gave me ideas to how performance can be produced in Cities.

In ‘Exploration’ the notion of awareness and observation is emphasised. The term, “dead of night” (Etchell, 1999, 76) suggests that darkness prevents exploration because it shrouds the places around us and restricts our sight. In the morning, however, the light enables us to explore because it gives us a sense of security . Harbisson describes this “veiled arrival” (Etchell, 1999, 76) as “acting out an allegory of knowledge” (Etchell, 1999, 76).

‘Maintenance’ describes a man’s repetitive “ritual” (Etchell, 1999, 77) in which he walks the same way at the same time every day. The man’s strange actions opposes the everyday normalities of life, however the man’s repetitive nature also reflects human’s tendencies to repeat their everyday lifestyle as if it is ritualistic. (Getting up, going to work, going to bed).

‘Destruction/Construction’ concerns itself with “the fascination of ruined places, of incomplete places” (Etchell, 1999, 78). These buildings create an impression of unfinished business and decay. The history of such a place cannot be ignored as with every building, comes a story, a past. For Mike Pearson, places like this allow “the past to surge into the present” (Pearson, 2010, 10). The people who resided in or merely visited these places in the past leaves a residual impression in the place itself. Rom’s theory that “to walk is to leave footprints” (Pearson, 2010, 21) suggests that each person adds to the history of a place or space and that these footprints resemble the mark and memory of that person. Every time we enter a space or a place, “the visitor is aware that each surviving doorway was once entered, each window was once looked through” (Pearson, 2010, 24). Their residual presence survives in these spaces and it is vital to recognise the importance of this in order to fully understand the history of a place itself.

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

Pearson, M. (2010) Site Specific Performance. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.