DRAFT OF MY PROJECT FOR NEXT TERM: GIFT: AND NOW WHAT?

My project for next term is called GIFT: AND NOW WHAT?

Gift: And Now What is a performance which will explore how the pandemic has affected children and adolescents. Developed as part of a Master Degree at the University of East London, it will tell the story of a mother (Maria) and a child (the Innocent).

The most pertinent areas of theoretical contextualisation within this project are: actor methodology and multi-rolling, Epic Theatre, autobiographical theatre, audience participation.

Following my own experience with my child during the pandemic, exploring the autobiographical theatre, I have created this project whose ultimate goal is to make the audience think about their reality as families and about life in its broadest sense. To date, several studies have investigated the negative effects of the pandemic (quarantine and post-pandemic trauma) in children and teenagers. With my performance I would like to expose that reality and make the audience question vital/philosophical questions like ‘Who are we for each other?’, ‘What is the value of my life?’

Bertolt Brecht (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.) operates a big influence on this project for several reasons: Firstly, I am exploring the idea of multi-rolling (playing different characters like the narrator, the mother and the child) and to help represent those characters I am considering the use of masks. Secondly, my aim is to make the audience think. Thirdly, The Epic Theatre plays a very important role in this performance not only because I would like the audience to think, but because I play with the idea of the digital double- developed first by Antonin Artaud and Steven Dixon.

At this stage I am contemplating audience participation in the performance, influenced by the idea of The Immersive Theatre: the audience, for instance, could choose the soundtrack/music played, or videos projected simply using some electronic devices that would be placed outside the stage for the audience to interact with, if they wish. I would possibly add some signs to inform the audience they are allowed to use those devices.

My performance at this given moment is thought of as a multimedia performance. I am considering using videos where my son will appear and using games and play. I will apply different actor’s methodologies in those videos: Like The Repetition Exercise of Meisner, or playing scenes with given circumstances to explore Chekhov's Technique and the Stanislavski Method.

This project has much autobiographical content. However, this project is not about my child and me, but about those millions of children and parents that have had to deal with the pandemic in their journey as a family, how the pandemic has affected them, ensuing post-pandemic trauma and what further future consequences might lie ahead. Data from several studies have highlighted the negative effects of quarantine or natural disasters on the mental and physical well-being of children and adolescents. In particular, reduced physical activity, weight gain, a decrease in cardiorespiratory fitness, prolonged screen times, irregular sleep patterns, and less appropriate diets have been described (Gilsbach, Herpertz-Dahlmann and Konrad, 2021).

Bethany, 15: ‘I think people are starting to see the importance of school and having a structured day. Doing the same thing every day, although it may seem boring, gives us a sense of security, as we know what will happen each day’ (Why young people will need more mental health support after lockdown, 2020).

I would like this project to make a change in those who will watch it, to make them think about the role of the family and the importance of the family as well as helping them reflect on their own lives and perhaps acknowledge points that they were not aware of about their own lives and their children’s lives.

Aesthetically I am influenced by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and his idea of ‘borrowing’. Cattelan reworks images and situations belonging to society and they then become reflections or commentaries on social and cultural dynamics that relate to the context in which the piece is presented. His works are open to numerous interpretations, sometimes contradictory. His works extend doubts, mirroring the contemporary consciousness (Maurizio Cattelan - Castello di Rivoli, 2022).

I am contemplating the props that I will use in my performance and how to create a dialogue with these props. For instance masks (their use became mandatory in many countries). My module leader, Jack Kelly, gave me the idea of using masks as props, for example creating a teddy bear out of masks. I am considering the use of masks as bounty flags. Bounty flags represent a celebration. Creating bounty flags with masks can be a bit disturbing for the public as the audience perhaps will only acknowledge the bounty flags are actually masks when they come close to the stage. There is a particular piece of art by Maurizio Cattelan that I remember vividly until today: Charlie don’t surf (1997). In this piece, Cattelan presents a child sitting at his school desk doing what seems to be his homework or simply quietly and diligently listening. When you come close to the child, then you can see his hands. His hands are nailed to the desk pierced by the pencils.(Maurizio Cattelan - Castello di Rivoli, 2022). I am interested in creating this type of discomfort in the public and making them question what has happened during the pandemic with the children and their parents and how our perception of what was acceptable/normal has changed. How we have accepted children wearing masks constantly when out (particularly in other countries, not in The United Kingdom) like while playing, and how their use of masks has distorted how we interact with others or how distorted is the perception we have from others. I want the audience to question what has changed in them since the pandemic (e.g., the acceptance of constantly using masks, the acceptance of sharing personal data, the acceptance of not interacting with others, the fear of death from going out and breathing, the fear of interacting with others, the consequences of the lack of human interaction and freedom within children and adults post-pandemic…)

In this project, as an actor, I am exploring the idea of using masks during the performance, based on the reading of the book 'Impro: Improvisation and the theatre' (2007) by Keith Johnstone. In this book, Johnstone also talks about the tradition of using masks in theatre, like in Japan with the Nō theatre, performed since the XIV century or in Commedia dell'arte originated in Italy in the XVI century. In this book, Johnstone explains how each mask has its own personality and characteristics and how those are passed onto the actor using the mask. I am considering introducing the use of masks in the performance to help me multi-roll and play the different characters of this performance. Within the play, I am exploring the idea of how we wear different ‘masks’ in society, in order to control or ameliorate the narrative depending on the environment or circumstances we find ourselves in. For example, parents wearing a mask to shield their children from the reality of the pandemic. Following the idea of Life is Beautiful, a film directed by Roberto Benigni (1999). The main character, a Jewish father, uses humour to hide the grim reality of the war to his son.

I will attempt to demonstrate this concept within the play by portraying the use of ‘masks’ during the pandemic and lockdown in relation to a child and parent relationship. The use of masks not only can help me with the multi-rolling but also when the mask is lost, it can help me to represent the duality those parents were facing (creating a safe environment for their children while at the same time being terrified by the reality and the consequences that the pandemic/lockdown really had on them).

Considering the use of multimedia and videos in this performance, different actors' methodologies can be applied in the creation of those videos. I am envisioning the participation of my child in those videos and the use of games and play for him to take part in them. For instance, using The Repetition Game of Meisner, creating a given scenario to practise the Stanislavski Method, putting us in the place of the characters, or creating a game with a given circumstance to explore Chekhov's Technique and the truth of the moment.

As an actor, I want to explore the figure of the narrator. The narrator is the one to remind the audience they are watching a story. From the point of view of an actor, the narrator is the one who turns to the audience and speaks directly to them either telling a story or commenting on an action or a motivation of the characters. By using the figure of the narrator (and by playing multiple characters and addressing social issues like the effects of the pandemic on children and their direct relatives), I will immerse myself a bit into the so-called 'Epic Theatre.'

Epic Theatre is a concept brought first by Bertolt Brecht at the beginning of the XX Century in his book 'Brecht on Theatre: The Development of an Aesthetic' (Brecht and Willett, 1965).

'Bertolt Brecht believed that theatre should appeal not to the spectator's feelings but to his reason. While still providing entertainment, it should be strongly didactic and capable of provoking social change' (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.).

My performance will include video and projections. It is a multimedia performance based also on the idea of 'The Digital Double', first contemplated by Antonin Artaud with his publication of 'The theatre and its double' (1938). In this book Artaud links the double with the uncanny: The idea of fiction vs reality (Jamieson, 2007).

For years, other actors and performers have devised this idea: Steve Dixon in his book ‘Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theatre’ (Dixon, 2015) considers ‘digital’ as ‘an enabling concept’ which ‘includes multimedia and interactivity’ to offer users ‘a huge and constantly expanding toolbox of theatrical effects that each has their own intelligence, sensitivity and subjectivity, that in a sense become characters on stage’ (Smith, 2007), the Catalonian theatre troupe La fura del Baus explores this concept in their Fausto: Version 3.0 (1998) and Jacques Derrida who returned to Freud's idea of 'the uncanny' in his essay 'The Uncanny' (1919). Freud considers the uncanny as anything we experience in adulthood that reminds us of earlier psychic stages, aspects of our unconscious life, or the primitive experience of the human species (Gray, n.d.).

At this stage I am contemplating the idea of the public interacting with the performance, like, for instance, changing the music/soundtrack as they please. Following this idea, I am contemplating the idea of using Ipads or other social media links or technological artefacts that will give the option to the audience to change and interact with the performance. This idea of the audience interacting with the performance is influenced by the idea of Immersive Theatre. In this type of theatre, the audience is in control of the production. I have still not decided on the different stages of the performance; if it will have a linear succession of events or each period of life together as mother and son will be one part of the performance independent from other scenes. If that is what I would do at the end, then various rooms could represent different stages in life, I would take some inspiration from the Promenade Theatre which features the scenes in multiple locations. Although I like the idea of theatre brought by the British Company Punchdrunk, unfortunately, I think I need various actors to create that interaction between the audience and the performance (Carlson, M. (The City University of New York – New York, 2015).

As I have mentioned before, several studies have highlighted the negative effects of quarantine or natural disasters on the mental and physical well-being of children and adolescents. One of those is the prolonged screen time (Gilsbach, S., Herpertz-Dahlmann, B. and Konrad, K., 2021).

That is the reason Social Media is part of my research for this performance. I am considering live streaming it and creating a social media profile for this performance that the public can interact with in real-time.

With the pandemic and the lack of physical freedom for adults and children, many turned to social media platforms for interacting with their friends and others. I am interested in researching the use of this social media platform by the general public and particularly the creation of the digital double, in this case not understood as the uncanny but more as the idea of the avatar. The idea of the avatar I am researching is developed in the film Ready Player One (2018), directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel of the same name written by Ernest Cline. I am researching how some people have extended their reality to the world on social media platforms and how the usage of these platforms compromises the privacy of adults and children and what has changed particularly with children massively using these platforms since the pandemic.

With this social media research I aim to observe how the interaction between children and parents has changed, as both groups have experienced prolonged screen time since the pandemic (and particularly during the lockdown) and how their relationship has been affected. Before starting this research, I considered how the relationship between parents and children has been negatively impacted because of their prolonged use of screens and social media. With my research I aim to confirm my point by observing the creation of a digital double, as explained before, the rising tendency of creating profiles of parents and children since the pandemic in Tiktok and their contents.

To do this research, I’ve created a profile in TIKTOK @azarshka.

In this profile I create the following type of content:

1. Applying concepts of the theatre, like the use of masks, as mentioned in the book ‘Impro: Improvisation and the theatre’ (2007) by Keith Johnston, into these applications.

2. Explaining different types of exercises and techniques actors use in their training (like the creation of characters, for example, the Buffoon (| BouffonsAqueous Humour, 2022), as we saw in a class led by Jack Kelly, or the different types of walks of the characters, how to deliver lines for stage acting.

3. Creating videos following the trends of the application and understanding those from the perspective of the creation of art, studying the idea of Reflection and self-representation (based on the research of Elena Cologni) and exploring the idea of digital double and the double as a reflection (based in the work done by Antonin Artaud, La Fura Dels Baus, Jacques Derrida and Dan Graham).

4. Digital content for props for the play GRIEF where I explore concepts related to the play. On some occasions, I use this content to research some topics, like masks, and the idea of avatars developed in the film Ready Player One (2018).

5. Content exploring the extension of reality into social media.

With this content I’ll observe:

1. Interaction of other uses: Visualisations, likes, creation of discussions.
2. The possibilities for creating art using this platform.
3. The difference between the response of the audience from Tiktok from the response from the audience on Instagram.
4. Trends and their social impact.
5. The line that separates something considered art and performance from what is not.
6. How some content can compromise the privacy of adults and children.

This video has been created using this web: https://www.incredibox.com This clip is part of my Final Project GIFT: AND NOW WHAT? This video represents the interaction with my child and the exchange of knowledge going from him to me. It represents the time spent together and the bond between child and mother, using music as a way to channel our internal feelings and memories and to connect with our children.

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*This is a project for my MA Acting for Stage and Screen at UEL, London (2022)