| Continual
Collection is an ongoing project. It was conceived
and devised in May 2005 for the Open Wide Festival,
Leeds. In June 2006 the piece was reworked to
incorporate Accidental Collective’s two
new members.
Flirting
with failure, the piece brings vaudeville to
the 21st Century. Taking the concept behind
‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ as an inspiration,
we asked people to submit ‘ingredients’
for performance: pieces of text, music, objects
or specific actions; as well as a short reasoning
for their choice. With each of these ‘ingredients’
we devised short scenes of about five minutes
each. This was the first participatory process
that composed the work. The second involved
the live audience. On stage there is nothing
more than two tables, with a CD/tape player,
four chairs, and a series of cardboard boxes
left and right. The boxes, of different sizes,
are numbered. The performers come onstage and
explain the ‘experiment’: the audience
has to choose a box that is then opened, and
its contents ‘performed’. The audience
shapes the show. There are no transitions. One
box, then the next, and then another…
The piece comes to an end before all boxes are
opened. The project seeks to establish methodologies
for the audience’s involvement at two
levels: as ‘ingredient donors’,
and ‘editors’ of the performance
– like channel surfing, the audience blindly
choose what to watch.
The
piece has been performed at the Open Wide Festival,
University of Leeds, May 2005, University of
Kent (Sept./Nov. 05); Horsebridge Arts Centre
(Whitstable, 9th and 17th of June 06); New Woolsey
Theatre (Ipswich, 14th of June 06), Whitechapel
Galley (London, 23rd June 06); Wimbledon Studio
(London, 26th June 06), Lounge on the Farm (Canterbury,
16th July 06).
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