Our performance was very successful, something I am very proud of given the nature of the performance and it's at times nuanced messages. The audience engaged with each moment of the performance and understood the overall themes within the piece. This taught me a lot about the boundless nature of theatre, as this proved to me that a play does not need to spoon feed it's ideas down the audience's throats, there are plenty of ways to guide the audience members to make their own conclusions about what a visual metaphor may mean, and this provides so much potential for ideas and experiments when it comes to performance art and theatre. The show was emotionally connected, meaning we used some of Artaud's methods effectively; 'Mummy Help Me' was one of the most effective moments in the show, as a few audience members were moved to tears. Clearly it is as possible to provoke an emotional response in others as well through a simple method of physical and verbal contortion.
The one thing we did not anticipate was the mess that some of our stimulus made. We did not think ahead about the fragility of our food props, and much of this became a hazard later on in the show, with some actors slipping on pieces of jaffa cake or fruit. However, this was not a major problem and we worked around it.
Our costume decision was effective; the decision to wear blacks left us looking professional and together as an ensemble, and the bunny ears contrasted this nicely as it highlighted we were more than willingly to play and be light.
We made some last minute changes, one of the main ones being that the stripper sequence was replaced as it did not fit with the themes, however the sequence it was replaced with, though not as visually interesting, fitted better with the our overall message. Instead of stripping the scientists now walked slowly along the tables, contemplating the questions we were about to ask the audience.
If I were to redo this performance, I would change this preset into something more visually interesting, perhaps i would have the scientists writing some sort of musical equation on the walls of the lab. I would also use less edible stimuli and try and find a way to dispose of them before carrying on with the performance.
In conclusion, this process has expanded my mind both musically and with regards to how theatre can be presented, as there are far more possibilities than I first realised when I joined the school.
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