#practictioner

Before I talked like I knew what the fuck I was doing. I still do sometimes, I reread it and it kind of sickens me. My practice changes a lot as I learn more, and I'm still a beginner in a lot of ways.

I have a want in me to pass on knowledge to others still trying to find their way, because I do have some and I know how it felt to be in that position. But I honestly don't feel qualified and now don't understand why I ever felt qualified.

I'm still doing ground work. I learn more about the Liminal Side all of the time. I still learn about sign-reading all the time. I still learn about the arcane and divine and spirit all the time. It's new every time I step up to the plate, but each time I have a little more ground to stand on.

My perspectives change on things. I consume theory just to throw it out or adapt it or even completely go against it. For better or for worse.

Most of the things I see reblogged from here feels really superficial to me. That's because I look at those old posts as superficial. I was telling people what they wanted to hear, what I wanted to hear. That's not the kind of thing I really want to pass on if I pass anything on.

I like to joke about the craft and my experiences, but I'm usually really vague or throwing off-the-wall shit up there that I'm not expecting anyone to take seriously. But maybe that paints an unhelpful picture, who knows.

I wanted to use this blog to reach other practitioners and learn when I first started, maybe even help those who are still feeling into the dark, and that's still my goal. But I think I took the completely wrong approach. I want to take back a lot of things I've stated or stated that I believe because I no longer feel that way. And I listened to a lot in the beginning that did not help me.

A lot of what I want to talk about I know is subjective, maybe even borderline problematic. I try to stay away from fluff anymore because my practice is not this sweet cotton candy cloud I thought it would be. But I also don't want to be overly dismissive if there might actually be something there. And I also try to be discerning of what's mundane and what isn't. But I don't always get it right. It's hard to be realistic about something so elusive and mystifying, but that doesn't stop me from trying.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this blog rarely reflects what I truly feel and think about my craft, my religion, and my sense, and I don't exactly know how to convey that properly or how "accurate" it is. I also wish it was easier for me to post about my struggle with it.

It's hard for me to connect over my practice, I feel alone in thought in some spaces and silently rejected in others for not meeting the standard. That could just be insecurity talking though.

Formed in 2002, Punchdrunk is one of the most successful and influential theatre company that revolutionised the practice of theatre and immersive experience. Their works crossed between theatre, installation, gaming experiences etc. and critics often have difficulties when trying to give a definite title the company because of the interdisciplinary nature of their works.  

Sleep no more (2011)

“Sleep No More” is the piece that gains them international fame and it remains as one of their most beloved and well-known productions. This “show” is a reimagination of Macbeth sets in the 1930s that is heavily inspired by classic noir films and the thrillers of Hitchcock.  However, like all Punchdrunk’s works, Sleep No More is not a conventional piece of theatre. The production takes place in the “McKittrick Hotel”, which was a series of abandoned warehouses in New York before Punchdrunk took over and transformed into a real-life 1930s hotel. Upon arrival, the audience’s possessions were taken away and they were asked to put on a white Venetian style mask. Afterward, they were then sent off into the building with the instruction to not talk at all during the performance. Unlike traditional theatre experiences where the audience just sits on their seats and watch the story unfold before them, this show lets the audience to freely roam around in the fictional setting. Allowing them to choose their own path and characters to follow, investigating the set, and piecing together the narrative for themselves.

Punchdrunk Audience’s Mask

the Mckittrick Hotel, New York

What makes Punchdrunk unique and stand out from the theatre industry is their unconventional approach to theatre. The founder and director of Punchdrunk, Felix Barrett, explained that Punchdrunk’s fundamental idea is “to break all the rules in theatre” and to remove the “alienating” nature of traditional theatre. Realising the power of simple physical human interaction in the 21st century where everything is so accessible, they took a more interactive and filmic approach to theatre where physical interactions from the audience are encouraged.  In the sense of a film, they dropped the audience directly into the middle of the scene and made them feel as if they are “inside a living movie” (Barret, 2015). This approach erased the separation between the audience space and the performance space by melding the two spaces together, which result in a powerful sense of emersion and personal involvement for the audience.

Additionally, in the sense of gaming experience, it gave the audience the power to make decisions for themselves rather than playing the same usual passive role in the theatre experience. This not only is a fresh take on theatre, but it will also encourage further concentration and personal engagement from the audience as they now have the responsibility for their own enjoyment of the show. This allows the audience to have their own adventure. Punchdrunk productions engage the audience through this incredibly immersive form of theatre that offers an experience that is much more active and sensorial, which at that time, the audience has never seen before.

 Pushing Boundaries

“Walking” is a project created by Robert Wilson in collaboration with Theun Mosk and Boukje Schweigman. Commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival, this is a part theatre, part installation, and part immersive experience that explores the landscape, times, movement & speed, the audience relationship with nature, and the audience relationship with each other etc.  And Wilson successful used all these elements to create an experience that is sensory and phenomenological.

In this experience, the audience were stripped away from their devices and were instructed by the yellow coat “angels” (the guides) to walk in an extremely slow pace through a 3 miles route in a remote landscape of Norfolk.  Every member of the audience has to keep a steady pace and distance away from each other and they were not allowed to talk or interact, they must only walk.

The first installation- at the start of the walk

On their journey, they will encounter several architectural installations that have been set up by the artists, each with an intention to provoke an emotional response from the audience and to heighten their senses.  Wilson meticulously designed this path to manipulate the audience’s sensory feeling in the hope to change the way they view and interact with the landscape.

The last installation at the end of the walk- audience step onto these beds and was slowly pulled backward by the angels until they end in a horizontal position, looking at the sky.

When I first heard of this project, which is a year ago, I did connect with or understand it at all and it seems to me that this is just one of those pretentious “arty” projects. But now, my view has changed after learning about semiotic and phenomenology and gaining more knowledge about performance/ spatial design.

I believe that the reason that I did not connect with it in the first place is because this is a purely phenomenological project that relies solely on the audience personal first-hand experience of the journey. Unless you embarked on the journey, you cannot really imagine or predict the effect it will have on you. And from reading the reviews and interviews, every single audience has a different experience or interpretation of the journey.  

Wilson purposely stripped away everything from the audience, materialistically and mentally, there was nothing to distract their minds which makes the walk just about their 5 senses and experiences. And for me, it is extremely difficult to imagine how this would have felt like- not really thinking about anything at all but just being completely emerged and absorb into the spaces and the repetitive act of walking at that moment of time.

Reflecting upon it, I can now understand the meaning and concepts behind this project which is why it was so successful and powerful for the audience. It has also opened up my mind about these kinds of more obscure and contemporary types of “performances” and I would definitely love to participate with them in the future if I got the chance to.  

 Reference

Hydar Dewachi, 2012. Robert Wilson “Walking”. [online video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8ih4GddMc4 (accessed on 19. 11.2018)