Drama360/Performance Techniques ***

'''DISCLAIMER! As there is no direct attachment to the reading received stating publishing information the information for article and author is based on speculation and a quick google search. As such anyone who is able to provide the proper information for the article(s) should delete this disclaimer and replace the current simplistic references with all the needed information. Finally no one on this page claims to have written the article, as we are only discussing the article and it's meaning. Anyone who claims that the foundation of the discussion on this page was their doing is lying unless in fact they are Tim Etchells. This lack of information shall be dealt with the utmost haste.'''

1.On Performance Writing. By Tim Etchells (98-108)

Response: Nathan Hunt

In this section of Etchells' article he lists a variety of examples of writing methods and its possible influence on performance. I believe that the most significant point that Etchells' makes in this section is when he makes the connection between the natural recycling of terminology and script that comes about in writing. Etchells' alludes to this point heavily through the types of influences he uses in writing, for example using a peace of paper with writing on it he found simply laying on the ground. As well when he mentions that when watching a film that he thought stole his script writing he realized that in reality he had taken the words from the film without realizing it, in this moment he communicates a small realization that text flows between time, events, and people and as such necessarily will be recycled. Essentially as we communicate with a shared communal language our texts will naturally be influenced by others, and we need this to successfully communicate. Using 'foreign' texts for performance creation is simply another extension of our own writing, as our own writing is heavily taken from the thoughts and ideals of others. The different examples used in the article to show how text can be used as performance were quite intriguing and interesting. The first example about the prisoners constantly repeating their strange language over and over again, waiting and wanting something to happen in their pointless, monotonous lives proved to be very revealing. This could definitely be considered a performance, as the article questions. The other examples of ways that text can be used in performance are very diverse but appear like they would have a very strong effect on audiences. It becomes very obvious after reading this article and the work done in class that text can perform as well as cut out the middle man of 'acting' to convince the audience of who you are trying to be.

Response:

Text, art. Tim Etchells’ article reminds me of Lawrence Weiner. The strange yet inspiring methods of using texts break the traditional boundary between text, rules and art (in the 3 letters section, “It spirals. It overlays. Build. Cancel.” is really inspiring to me on how to use technology to create text for performance). It is interesting to find out how tightly text and traditions were linked, and by breaking the traditional rules, texts revealed its’ true self to the spectators. Like where the prisoner repeating their unknown language time and time again. This is just like sometimes if you stare at a word for a long time, text actually opens a new window for you to look at, and you may feel the familiar word you were staring at is no more the word, but some other strange world that contains other meanings. And through dissimilating the strange texts, an entirely new way of using texts opened right in front of you. However I think there should still be more potential for this kind of ideology to be developed, I googled some performances based on analyzing texts, so far I haven’t really found one that I think is good enough yet.

I found Etchells' discussion on text to be interesting and informative. He does a great job discussing one's relationship to language, stating that the self often seems to be made up of a collection of texts, quotations and strategic and accidental speakings. He describes the human race as a filter of texts; that the language constantly flows in and out in a variety of ways throughout numerous years. This notion of our bodies being nothing more than an intersection of language makes me feel unimportant. I find this description of language strips the body of its conscious, and this analyzation makes it seem as if one is unable to make a conscious effort to say something truly without quoting or copying a line of text they had heard before. This view of language provokes questions and thought, and many people including Etchell have worked to strip language from its meaning to create performances that truly are original.

2.On Performance and Film:Tuning in. By Tim Etchells (109-112)

Response: Jingyi Chen

In the second section of this article, Etchell addresses his experiences and reflections while filming DIY with Michael Atavar and Hugo Glendinning. Because of three questions Eschell asks, “’Can you film an atmosphere?’ ‘What goes onto film?’ ‘What goes onto tape?’”, I am very curious about how he could lead me to find out answers. What I am most impressed is how Hugo photograph scene without even looking through camera. Even though this way won’t make critical focus point go onto tapes, won’t let actors’ fixed performances go onto film, it captures more natural movements of people. It breaks traditional photographing, and it is “shooting without being sure in order to escape the logics of framing and control”.

Response: Ping Yu

Hugo’s shooting pictures without looking through camera sounds new but really a good way to capture the uncertain happenings to me. It made me think about the “Louisiana Walk #14” that put on your headphone and start your image with the music playing. The “Louisiana Walk #14” does sever the outside environment and expanding your image or bring you back your own experience; however, the without looking shooting tries to catch any kind of elements or any senses happened in a room or in a performance without human’s control and logics. Tim asked those questions about how a film can capture the still or not physical things such as atmosphere? Actually, unexpected things should be the main important things to capture in a film because there are all over the proceed of a performance and a place and they can not be seen or capture unless you do not use human’s logic method to film or shooting.

3.Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, Fiction. By Tim Etchells (113-124)

RESPONSE: Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, Fiction.

The third section of the article is devoted to Etchells msuing and the connects he makes between his performance life and his real life. He recalls the discovery of his failing heart and the installation of his pacemaker in the first section, this section is titled "Dreams". The next section Titled "Games" goes over a female photographers work with her children taking still of them playing dead in various ways, as well as a performers repeated deaths on stage, and how he often fell asleep while dead. "Letters", the next section goes over Etchells attempts to construct his brothers fiance without meeting her and then deleting her when she died to connect with the pain of his brother. he is unsuccessful in this endeavor until the funeral where the weight of the coffin convinces his she was real. The fourth heading is "I Just Can to Say Goodbye" and goes over the Authors experience with Rob Vawter and his intense methods of letting his character (The dead person he is playing.) into his soul. Vawter then dies and Etchells is left to write the obituary. Echtells thinks about using on of Vawter's techniques to channel his spirit, but can't bring himself to do it. The fifth installment is about scars and is aptly titled so. He speaks of the scar from his pacemaker as well as a scar his mind inflicted on himself as a child. Six, "The Story: 'Rose of Misfortune'" Covers the (I'm assuming) fictional story of rose a rather unfortunate girls who always seem to be getting injured sick and having relative die on her. The story ends with her in a coma approaching death. Part 7 entitled "The Stone" gives details of a family that his brother became close with in Africa they gave him a stone so that their gods can protect him. Etchells imagines his brother giving the stone to Rose and the result is her having a happy life. Mysteriously titled "Ghent" The eighth and final section give a reflective look back at Etchells life and a desire to continue doing what he has been doing for the majority of his life to the point of eternity.

I loved the way that in the final part Etchells connected both his life experience and technology together, a parallel can be found with his pacemaker and the blackberry asking to repeat forever. The pacemaker is what keeps him from dieing due to heart fail and in a sense allows him to repeat forever. (or at least however long he is able to) Despite this part of the article being fragmented into a list there is a connection between all of them, in some cases it is direct as with the repeated mention of Rose or his pacemaker. I fell like the through line in this piece of writing makes it exciting and easy to read.

This article gave us some example of using texts in different ways. The texts can be nonsense, made up languages, sounds or a part of plot and so on. This article reminded me of when I read Harry Potter; I could always have my own imagination of the story. What does Harry look like? What is that magic? What is the atmosphere in that situation? When I think about these details, I feel like I am the director of the movie of Harry Potter. Hence, I think reading texts is more interesting than watching a movie. However, people are whelmed in the effects of sensory stimuli rather than reading or thinking texts. Images are real and closer to them in the theatre. Once they leave, it is empty. Texts are different because there are so many ways to understand and envisage the meaning of it.

Response: Sijin Chen

For The Dreams part of “Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, Fiction”, I found the dream that the author had was very detailed and interesting. After all I still have no idea if the heart failing and pacemaker story is a dream or true story because it feels so real for me. Possibly, a life that should be ended but pulled back from the border of death is the greatest performance. The author used a lot self catechism. He keeps asking questions to himself and answers them to describe the feeling and what happened around or to him. Interestingly his body is the main character of this great performance. His body hasn’t moved a bit, but all the things that did to the body and the reaction that the body had is this entire story about.

Response to Sijin Chen's response

After I saw your response I read this part again and I don’t think the story was an actual dream that Tim had. I think what he meant was that the second chance of life is just like a dream. Thanks to the medical technology our society has, the man magically lived. I agree that the body been the main role of this part, such as the change of heart beats and all the different reflection of Tim’s mind. Even when he was sleeping, the body is still actively performing. Tim impressively used different techniques to express the feeling and influence that he intended to audiences-the story of the body.

In the Dreams part of “Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, Fiction”, dream is presented very detail. Every audience feel different thought through the performance. A successful performance lead audience to think himself and the real life. A dream usually present a thing which is happened in our life. However, people do not know what reason it is. So in the performance, performer ask questions about himself again and again. He never move his body since he was dreaming. In art, a lot of performance or photos describe dream since it is very mysterious. Artists can use their image to think the dream.

Response: Meng Shi

I really have many confusedness about the first section of “Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, Fiction”, and I can not able to discriminate which is performance life and which is real life. Actually, when I read this article, I thought that the heart failing and pacemaker story is Tim’s ture life, but he just expressed his real life as the performance. However, when I read the responese who disagrees with Sijin Chen’s point, I reconsidered my idea, but I didn’t get the answers. I don’t know if Tim’s second chance of life became true, or it was still a dream. Anyway, whether it is true or dream ,it is absolute a goog performance because Tim expresses his feelings, ideas and real life by the technology.

Response: Huibing Wu

I think letters are good writing performance. From M’s letter, Tim knows that N has died from a car crash. How N looks like. What kind of person she is. Sometime, we don’t need to use our mouth to say how much we love someone. From writings, one can deliver their happiness and love to others. Also, photographs are unspoken texts. From the poses, dress of the image, the reader can guess what N loves to do. For example, in the picture N dress in a blue dress and holding hands with two kids. Through this picture, the reader can said that N might like blue color and love kids.

Response: Yibin Wang

This article shows me lots of techniques and skills about performances. Actually, I am very interested in talking about this question “What goes onto film”. There is no denying that art derives from life. However, few films tell real stories. Is the film art an exception? Definitely not. Even though most films just represent imaginary stories, they cannot come out without life. When people are making a script, they try to think about what happened, what is happening, and what will happen. They put their real feelings of life and their thoughts about life in it. Anyways, I think the answer for that question is life.

Response: Xiaochao Ma

I feel so interested in the story of the stone. I wonder how a stone talks and saves people from cancer and danger. I think the stone can be a site that helps those religious people to create a performance. A site-specific performance about how the stone deliver information to God. The article also mentioned that ‘perhaps the stone is a radioactive isotope. The Gods use some kind of Geiger tracing’. In my understanding of the article, the stone as an agent talks to God and translates those nonsense feelings and thoughts from God to normal people. It helps God to track those people indeed.

Performance writing represents physical action and set construction. In addition, it illustrates lists, improvisation, reading, and whispering. Accordingly, text is one of the most significant forms of performance writing. Giving the relationship between the voice and language, text describes various forms of the emotion as the example of text which is written in blood. According to the article, Sea that Made the Promise (1986) uses to talk about the sound of voices which blurred and awful sound coming through the walls. Language reduces the raw shapes which we can try to guess the meaning and way the language wants to represent.

Response:

The story of Ghent happens in a room of hotel, which is with a bed, a chair and TV. I think that room should not be large from the description of author. In that room, lay on that bed, the author had a queer dream, which was about death. There came some dreadful fiction in the dream of author, such as fake blood in the veins, glycerine tears, fake guts, and even the stage booze and electrical heart. I am amazed that those dreadful fictions emerge in the dream of author, how rich imagination the author has, I can not explain at all. Ghent, as the last story in the last section, summarizes the main idea of the last section, which is Repeat Forever: Body, Death, Performance, and Fiction. The author uses his body to create the death in a dream, and it looks like some fiction of death in a performance, I have to admire Tim Etchells, who is the author of this article, he has the qualifications of an excellent performance artists ,due to the extremely creative imagination can develop the performance art.

response: (Jiachen wu)

i felt like i was reading someone's journey although i cannot understand all of them. however, i really impressed how useful the text can effect performance that much. "James Fox" he made a list of texts for silence. i wanna add more text for the list of silence. the kind of silence that before a big storm is coming. the kind of silence that when a student receive a falling grade on his or her course. the kind of silence that when a person break up with his or her lover. the kind of silence that you sitting in front of the house at one summer night. the kind of silence that you walk with minus 35 on the street in a winter time. the kind of silence that a person read his or her love letter after breaking up. at that moment, silence is text.