Advances in technology, particularly in mobile phones, has given society an unlimited access to pervasive media. The show I Wish I Was Lonely(Walker and Thorpe, 2015) reflected upon the many ways we now rely upon our mobile phones in our everyday lives. Although there are positive aspects to this new commitment such as the ability to remain in instant contact with our loved ones who may be miles away, there are also many negative repercussions. One quote from the performance I found particularly poignant was “I wish I missed you but you’re here in my pocket”(ibid). The idea that contemporary relationships actually suffer because of this instant communication had never even crossed my mind. We are now impatient to hear back from friends and anger when it takes them longer than ten minutes to reply to a text. This thought was merely emphasized when the performers posed the audience with a question “If I said I was going to smash your phone, would you leave?” (ibid). A rush of panic immediately crossed my mind having remembered that my phone case was broken and was still awaiting the delivery of its replacement, what would I do if it broke in that short length of time? Looking back I feel that my own panic was mirrored in the faces of other audience members, followed by a collected sigh of relief when the performers assured us that our phones were safe.

The post show discussion was particularly helpful in looking at the ratio between the number of performers and audience members. This will be one thing that is important to consider for my own site specific performance as too many performers could overwhelm an audience. Also the idea that when interacting with members of the public it is useful to decide on certain rules in order to ensure that we do not become a nuisance, especially as it is likely we will be inviting members of the public in from the street without any previous contact in our own performance.

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