Well Lincoln University, this is my second attempt at this blog post, sort out your internet.
Rant aside, I wanted to come back and try and give a more specific direction to what I have in my mind with regards to what our performance should be.
We all know “free hugs” has been overdone and I’m not in a million years suggesting that should be our performance, merely that it runs in the same vein as what I want us to do. It breaks the barrier between performer and audience, it breaks through social ettiquette, and it leaves people smiling. They’re things I want to do.
Drama and performance should not be for performance’s sake. We shouldn’t create something to pass the course, to get the degree. We have an opportunity to change people’s opinions, and to perform something thought provoking. It’s stressing me out that we could do something amazing, but it’s not coming to me.
I just now had the idea of showcasing street art in the town centre or something. Banksy has caused massive controversy with his artwork. One one hand, it is by almost every definition a good piece of art. On the other, simply because of its location people are calling it graffiti and vandalism. I find it interesting that just the change of place can make these great, thought provoking works into condemned eyesores. This is a root of site specific performance to me. When something’s out of its regulated zone, does it change its essence? It brances of thousands of less obvious but equally important questions. Does art need to cost something to be worth anything? Is its popularity based on its audience? Does it being in an unusual place enhance its message?
I’ve looked at some books about local Lincoln history to look for stories that we can weave into our piece, here’s the outcome:
-In the 1830’s, there was a series of fires on farms around Lincolnshire which were put down to ‘Captain Swing’.
-In 1937, Harold Davidson, a reverend who was defrocked for having communication with prostitutes, tried his hand at lion taming and was consequently clawed to death.
-in 1922 at Lincoln station, four men were crushed or dragged to death by a train
(Gray, Adrian, (1993), Lincolnshire Headlines, Berkshire: Countryside Books)
-“Close to the [Greestone] stairs is a building that used to be a tithe barn and then a hospital. Today it is used by the University of Lincoln, but the fact that it was once a hospital may explain the recurrence of a ghost of a young woman seen on the stairs.” (Stephen Wade 2011, p.60)
-“Satan sent an imp to Lincoln Cathedral to stir up some mayhem. The imp intended to wreck the angel choir, but when an angel made an appearance there was a scrap, and the nasty imp threw chunks of stone at the angel. In retaliation, the angel turned the imp to stone… and the imp is still there today.” (Stephen Wade 2011, p.73)
(Wade, Stephen, (2011), The A-Z of Curious Lincolnshire Strange Stories of Mysteries, Crimes and Eccentrics, Great Britain: The History Press)
These are the questions I want us to find a way to explore.