Drama360/Introduction Continued: Considering Collaboration ***

INITIAL RESPONSE: CHAO JIANG

1. Etchells, Tim. Certain Fragments: Contemporary Performance and Forced Entertainment. London: Routledge, 1999. [Pages 48 – 70)

“On Risk and Investment” was a small response article to an invitation from Alan Read on May 1994. It tells us everything about how risks affect investment support. The author tells us it is a waste of time if a performance can’t affect the world. “Play On: Collaboration and Process” was written by Tim Etchells and first presented at a seminar on play and performance in Leuven, Belgium in January 1998, and the essay is a fragmented, speculative account of our own process, and anatomy of collaboration and an investigation of the role of play itself as a force of transformation, subversion and resistance. [p48] The warning part talks about a performance created by F and M, M was dying from HIV. Tim learned that it is not frivolous to think that even as we die we are creatures of fiction and pretending, that we are not simply ‘facts’ or biology, even as one dies, one is multiple, playful, partial, strategic and indeed fictional [p51] The rest of this essay used a lot events, stories, and Tim’s experience to show us what is “play”, “process” and “collaboration”, though most of these fragments didn’t really make sense for me when putting them together. However, the stories are very interesting and unique. At last, from my understanding from the essay, I think Tim trying to tell us that “play” is sometimes fiction, and can constant changing, more like a movie I guess. “Process” is how, where, who, why, when about the performance. “Collaboration” is a performance that needs more than one people to do and need coordination between each person.

Response: Jeremy Verkley

Investment and risk those two things essential to performance. Tim Etchells comments that in the artificial world of performance the real thing is the investment, or the risk the person is at. Does this mean something a question asked by everyone involved with the performance what it means to the actor, director, playwright, or audience doesn't matter just that it holds some importance. While working with a group of fellow artists he find that the most intriguing, magical ,and personal moments happen in between spaces. The time where a lunch break turns into working, the time between consciousness and unconsciousness, between real and imaginary. He uses the example of Claire as a disruptive dog, who goes about barking irritatingly. Fifty minutes into the performance she get interviewed as talks regularity until the interviewer suggests that it's time to take the dogs head off. She completes the interview puts the head back on and is the dog for the rest of the performance. This stark contrast this magic there work where the imaginary (The Dog) and the real (Claire) overlap to create something that sticks out. Where the rules have the least effect because one is in a state of flux the space between spaces.

Response: Peter wang In a performance, the actor, director, playwright, or audience will ask what happen for them. They care about what is the performance mean for the real world or their life. the performance sometimes combine imaginary with real things in our life. People is at risk in their life. Performance will give audience the view and background for these risk which may happen in their life. There is a waste of time if there is no response from audience. Direct like the story which comes from our life. However, we do not always meet these things everyday.

Response: Zoe Wang

In this response article, the author puts together the various fragments in the same way he interprets the term collaboration, such that no perfect unity exists. The fragments leap from one topic to another without any pure intention to form a linkage; however, the combination of fragments act as pieces of a puzzle, without it any piece, the puzzle would not be complete. Tim Etchells is displeased with fixed intentions, thus the collaboration of these fragments perfectly identifies his style. As he defines, collaboration works due to “differences, collisions, [and] incompatibilities” (p.56), we should consider that for people and ideas.

Response: Ping Yu

I agree with Tim Etchells’ comment about the article ‘On risk and Investment’ while Tim said it was a waste of time if a performance did not have any influences on people. There are lots of different performances are playing every day and some of them are about history, some of them are about daily life, some of them are about other cultures. No matter what kinds of performances they are, they should have something left to their audiences and bring them questions to think about their lives, the world and so on. For instance, ‘A Warning’ showed the death in front of people and also ‘Nights’ tells people to “rewriting the everyday” by changing boring questions to a different way.

Response: Brittany Kozloski

Tim Etchell discusses how risk and investment effect performers and their audience. It becomes noticeable that investment is happening when the performers before us are bound to what they are doing and their performance matters, hurts or threatens them unspeakably. Investment becomes important to life when the unreal things performed end up changing the real world. Etchell explains how a performer needs to ask if the finished performance will matter, if it will change you, change me, or change things. According to Etchell, performance only matters when it is not a waste of time, when it deliberately or accidently changes a part of the world. Performers strive for this investment, because with this truth comes a transformation in life.

Response: Yuanyuan Li

Tim Etchell,which is the author of the article of One Risk and Investment,stated that there are several risks and investment,which will affect performers,and even their audience from several fragments.In addition,as Tim Etchell said it was a waste of time if a performance did not have any influences on people.I strongly agree with that point,I believe that the live performance artists use their different manner,such body language,and even some accessorial objects to tell people what they would like to say in their mind, sometimes their works usually are not available to show in people‘s daily life conversations,so that the performance artists prefer to set forth their position what they would like to express with the nonrepresentational forms,which are live performances.However,there are some distances between the understandings of audiences and the express of the performances artists,due to some differents between real life and the world of ideality.

Response: Siliang Li

In the article "Play On: Collaboration and Process", I am really interested in the word "improvising". Most performance we see today is script performance. It is already determined for performers, leaving no space for their identity and creation. They have to follow each step which the writer or director ask them to. For instance, in the article "On Risk and Investment", the Rauthor asked a performerwhat was going on in a certain part of the piece he'd been in - the performer replied,'I don't know, ask the writer'. The reason I like about improvised performance is because you never know what is going to happen. You don't have to go to theatre. You can see the performance in our everyday life and everyone can be the performer. It may not as mature as script performance, but it is real and you don't see "act" in the performace. You don't have to play someone you are not just be yourself. You feel free to perform anytime and the stage is anywhere.

Response: Huibing Wu

In addition to Siliang's mention of "improvisation", the article also mentioned that 'trying to get themselves in to trouble'. Improvisational play methods not only encourage collaboration, communication but also connection amongst performers. Learning can be enhanced by improvisation and risk taking. Getting yourselves into trouble can help you find the territory beyond the one you know, to me is that improvisation stimulates performers' imagination, think of something they never thought about. Improvisational play is very much like what we have done in class, two people sitting in front of others, one answer questions and the other one create questions. I felt that no matter who you are, you don't really have much time to think logically and choose the best answer and question. I think improvisation provides a feeling of discomfort for everyone of us, but stimulates our imagination.

response: jiachen wu (response to Huibing Wu)

i really like "improvisation". in my opinion,"improvisation" is a typical way of "trying to get themselves in to trouble". in the "improvisation", we might make a mistake during this process. for example, we make a improvised speech in a big theatre, and there is a high chance or risk of making a vocal mistake. but sometimes people are laughing at your vocal mistakes, or there is also a high chance that the vocal mistake is key point of your successful speech. this is what i called improvisation of art. improvisation is a typical dadaism.

Response: Abaigeal Skjenna

To continue off of Siliang's mention of improvisation, I thought the 'Nice Cop/Nasty Cop' section of the reading was very constructive for coming up with a well thought out piece. In this manner of improvising and then critiquing later allows the performers to bring all their unadulterated thoughts to the table. It seems to create a more natural 'script' because the reactions to the other performers are all genuine. Everyone gets to share as much as they wish to, as opposed to a director telling the actors what to do. This is what real 'collaboration' is supposed to be like, the performers create and critique their own pieces to produce the best product.

Response: Sijin Chen

“Play On: Collaboration and Process” is a fragmented essay which involves many stories, events, and the author’s experience so as to make us understand how collaboration and process are important and what play is. In the story of a warning, I admire the spirit of performer who got very ill, but he never gave up his passions of performing. He insisted on performing in the last moment of his life. His spirits on performance not only have a significant effect on other artists, like the author of this article, Tim Etchells, but also his performance can touch every audience’s heart. His spirit is really worth us to learn. In our lives, as long as we have this spirit and put our passions to the things we want to do, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

Response: Yibin Wang

When I saw the title ‘On risk and investment’, I thought it was about business. However, taking risk and investing are also performances in business. On the other hand, I have a really deep impression about Tim’s opinion. He said it was a waste of time if a performance did not have any influences on people. I think that is totally true.Every person can do lots of performances everyday. For instance, when people wake up, they will brush their teeth and wash their faces. Both of these are performances, but people just do them for their daily lives. They do not influence others, so I think these performances are not real art ones. Standing on art’s point, those are wasting time. The performance for art should influence people, including changing people’s attitudes about doing things or make people more brave face any hard time. This is the power of art and it is also the essence of performance.

Response: Meng Shi

From this article, I learnd that risk and investment could affect performance, and it also tells us everything about how risks affect investment support.In my opinion, put “play”, “process” and “collaboration” together in the performance which is a kind of investment,and how to put those fragments perfectly that will be the risk of the performance.“play”, “process” and “collaboration”, though most of these fragments are really helpful in the performance,therefore, I agree with Etchells, Tim's experience. Ostensibly, these fragments do not have any connection with each other and do not make any sense when we put them together; however, those fragments are the structure of the performance. Risk will affects investment support is a poion which the author wants to tell us. Moreover,any performance need to affect people, no metter what kind of affect. Visually,sensuous or spiritual change can help performance influence the audience.

Response: Nathan Hunt

A really powerful brief excerpt of this article that left an impression on me that I would like to discuss can be found on page 69; it follows "Isn't that the frustration of play? That it isn't real?" and then again soon "So that there were always some players who don't know when to stop. Who'd be left out there in fiction or in play, getting too involved in it, getting confused." What is it that play truly represents to us as player? I never really found play to be that which we in reality wanted, but due to practicality refrained from doing. And how is it that a performer can truly do more than play, as even placing yourself in a situation of performance seems to, in a sense, frame your actions as a manner of play? If going to far becomes making an act real, I do not believe it is possible to go to far. This is as the performance that comes about from action, even if it is spontaneous still stems from an idea and/or notion of performance. In my perception living is playing, we assign ourselves roles and thus act upon them. In a sense than any sense of truth or reality can only stem from that which is not acted, thought, or brought about but rather that that simply is.

Response:

I truly think the risk and investment ideology revealed by Tim should be applied not only to performance creations, but also to every theatre forms, also the mass media productions such as movies and TV shows. Tim might made this risk and investment idea a bit too broad due to the restrictions of publishing responses, to me every kind of production should consider the investment, and every investment should be critical enough to create a meaningful outcome. Unlike Tim, if a “product” can only be linked to passion, laughter, politic or rage, I do not think it is a good enough “product”. To me a good performance “product” should be more demonstrating than make it matter to the performers; in other words, I think influences to the spectators is more important than to the performers. The performers are sources and media of the critical messages, only by risking themselves and fully understand their movements they can communicate to the public with all their heart. On the other hand a good “product” should turn spectators into performers, and most importantly, make the spectators receive and understand the critical meanings. I have seen many performances back in China, the only problem with the majority of the performances is that the performers are treating the spectators either like idiots or geniuses with their entirely one way communicating performances(I am not saying they are not trying to involve the audiences). Some most famous examples would be the environmental artists use performance to promote green environment, all the spectators can understand is that “yes the green environment is important”, and then the rest of the entire performance is totally devoted to satisfying the rages of the performers and environmentalists themselves. This kind of investment to me is pretending to be Avant-garde like, with too much or often too little in-depth meanings, and often too much pretending performing decorations, the performers are actually treating the audiences either as idiots or geniuses. To me investment like this should be more simplified and critical. For the sake outcomes, I think all artists should think more like businessman, try to create less products that can not make any sells and can only keep the artists themselves satisfied. In other words, try to be more critical on investments, and be simple if necessary.

Response: Xiaochao Ma

Just like what Jack said, the title " risk and investment" also made me feel like the article is gonna talking about business. However, i knew that we were working on drama stuff, and all we need to know was art. So, this article was not about business. Actually, I was really interested in collaboration. I think this is the most important part in a performance. Each performer has their job in the performance. Though they may do well by their own, no team works, no respect and no conversation will not make the performance successfully. I am the person who really enjoyed the collaboration. I think this is the best way to get to know each other, and make our job much easier. I am not saying that "play" and process are not as important as collaboration. They are part of a performance. But, I just think that collaboration is the first thing that each performer should know before they start moving forward.

Response: Jingyi Chen

In the article “On risk and investment”, Tim Etchells said if a performance did not have any influences on people, it was a waste of time. According to the explanation of Wikipedia about art, we could find “Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art) performance should be come from daily life of people, or base on the daily life. Then people could understand it and enjoy it. But if performance is far away from life of people, that may not be accept by people, or we could say it cannot influence on people. The reason of this may be we could say is life of people is a source of art, and could be more understandable by people.

eric's test response!!!