Lightwork

Description

This volume brings together performance texts from nine productions by the experimental theatre company Lightwork and one playtext from Lightwork’s precursor company Academy Productions, presented between 1997 and 2011.

Lightwork specialized in collaboratively created and multimedia performance. The company also experimented with several performance forms that emerged at the turn of the twenty-first century, including verbatim and site-specific approaches. Because of this, the texts cover a range of forms and formats – scripted plays such as Here’s What I Did With My Body One Day by Dan Rebellato and Blavatsky by Clare Bayley; multimedia adaptations of classical myths such as Back At You (based on the story of Echo and Narcissus) and Once I was Dead (based on the story of Daedalus and Icarus); site-specific experiments such as The Good Actor, which took place in various spaces across Hoxton Hall, a Victorian theatre in London’s East End; and the use of verbatim witness testimony from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes section in Sarajevo Story.

The defining aspect of the Lightwork aesthetic is that multimedia and scenographic experimentation does not come at the expense of the mainstays of dramatic theatre: character, story and emotional resonance. What lies at the heart of the Lightwork shows you will encounter here are human-scale stories: relationships between lovers or family members, confrontations with the past (both as personal and as cultural history) and, in many cases, matters of life or death that entail wrestling with causality, consequence and fate.

The twelve-year span covered by this work reflects a period in British performance practice when the interrelation of page and stage, process and production, text and ‘non-text’, were being radically rethought. In the collaborative and processual theatre making that Lightwork exemplifies, the text may be one element among many and is more likely to be the outcome of the process than its precursor.

How do such playtexts (or performance texts) differ from those that are conceived and scripted by a single desk-based playwright in advance of the rehearsal? What gaps are left when the work of many hands is channelled through the pen (or keyboard) of one among them? The texts featured in this volume represent a number of answers to these questions about the nature of writing for the stage.

The performance texts are each preceded (and sometime followed) by short essays written by some of the many people who have been involved in productions by Lightwork, including established academics and theatre practitioners: David Annen, Clare Bayley, Gregg Fisher, Sarah Gorman, Andy Lavender, Aneta Mancewicz, Bella Merlin, Alex Mermikides, Jo Parker, Dan Rebellato, and Ayse Tashkiran. Their contributions reflect the collaborative nature of the company and the respect that it accorded the various disciplinary perspectives that make up a theatre company.

There are sections on scenography, sound design and technical operation, as well as on those crafts that might more usually draw attention: directing, writing and acting. These contributions offer an insight into the collaborative, multi-layered and sometimes messy business of their creation from an individual maker’s or spectator’s point of view.

This book will be invaluable for those who are making, studying or researching performance in the twenty-first century, and an essential resource for the rehearsal room.

Primary readership will include researchers, educators, students and practitioners interested in creative practice, theatre-making, integrated design and performance, and contemporary theatre.

It will be an important resource for those on theatre and performance courses at all levels, as well as acting, theatre and performance design, dramaturgy and direction courses, creative writing courses and media arts programmes.

It will have appeal for general readers interested in new texts and processes in theatre and performance, and individual texts are likely to be of interest to specialist researchers working in related fields – for example performance and the occult (Blavatsky), performance and conflict (Sarajevo Story).

1. Starting points

On Lightwork and twenty-first-century theatre         Alex Mermikides

On texts and collaborations                                       Andy Lavender

 

2. Blavatsky

On writing live                                                            Clare Bayley

TEXT: Blavatsky (1999)

 

3. London/My Lover

On technical operation                                               Alex Mermikides

TEXT: London/My Lover schematic (2002)

On documentation                                                     Sarah Gorman

 

4. Here’s What I Did With My Body One Day

On writing and not writing plays                                Dan Rebellato

TEXT: Here’s What I Did With My Body One Day (2004/2006)

On experimenting                                                       David Annen

 

5. You Kill Me

TEXT: Once I was Dead (2006)

TEXT: Back at You (2007)

 

6. Sarajevo Story

On sound                                                                    Gregg Fisher

TEXT: Sarajevo Story (2008)

On scenography                                                          Jo Parker

 

7. MyLife

On movement direction                                             Ayse Tashkiran

TEXT: MyLife running orders (2008)

 

8. The Tempest

On intermediality                                                        Aneta Mancewicz

TEXT: The Tempest (edited version 2009)

 

9. The Good Actor

On acting                                                                    Bella Merlin

TEXT: The Good Actor various (2010/2011)

 

10. The Shift

On process                                                                  Clare Bayley

TEXT: The Shift (1997)

 

Contributors

Bibliography

 

 

 

 

Sujets

• Arts visuels
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des Arts
• Histoire des arts visuels
• ART
• Media studies
• Politics
• Performance art
• 21st century
• contemporary
• Performing Arts

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781789385038
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Lightwork
Lightwork
Texts on and from Collaborative Multimedia Theatre
EDITED BY
Alex Mermikides and Andy Lavender
First published in the UK in 2022 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK

First published in the USA in 2022 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Copyright © 2022 Intellect Ltd

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover designer: Aleksandra Szumlas
Cover image: Barbara and Jeff catch up over Skype, in Sarajevo Story . Jonathan Lermit (Jeff [on screen]), Bella Merlin (Barbara). Photo: simonkanephotography.co.uk, 2008.
Copy editor: Newgen
Production manager: Debora Nicosia
Typesetting: Newgen

Print ISBN 978-1-78938-501-4
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-502-1
ePub ISBN 978-1-78938-503-8

To find out about all our publications, please visit
www.intellectbooks.com
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This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
Figures
Preface: On This Book (and How to Read It)
Note on Performing Rights
Thanks
PART 1: STARTING POINTS
1. On Lightwork and Twenty-First-Century Theatre
Alex Mermikides
2. On Texts and Collaborations
Andy Lavender
PART 2: BLAVATSKY
3. On Writing Live
Clare Bayley
4. Blavatsky (1999)
PART 3: LONDON/MY LOVER
5. On Technical Operation
Alex Mermikides
6. London/My Lover Schematic (2002)
7. On Documentation
Sarah Gorman
PART 4: HERE’S WHAT I DID WITH MY BODY ONE DAY
8. On Writing and Not Writing Plays
Dan Rebellato
9. Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day ( Voici ce que j’ai fait un jour de mon corps ) (2004/06)
10. On Experimenting
David Annen
PART 5: YOU KILL ME : MULTIMEDIA MYTHS FOR LOVERS AND LOSERS
11. Once I Was Dead (2006)
12. Back at You (2007)
PART 6: SARAJEVO STORY
13. On Sound
Gregg Fisher
14. Sarajevo Story (2008)
15. On Scenography
Jo Parker
PART 7: MYLIFE
16. On Movement Direction
Ayse Tashkiran
17. MyLife Running Order (2008)
PART 8: THE TEMPEST
18. On Intermediality
Aneta Mancewicz
19. The Tempest (Edited Version 2009)
PART 9: THE GOOD ACTOR
20. On Acting
Bella Merlin
21. The Good Actor Various (2011)
22. The Acting Workshop
Bella Merlin
PART 10: THE SHIFT
23. On Process
Clare Bayley
24. The Shift (1997)
Notes on Contributors
Figures
1. Roland muses (‘in a kind of nostalgia’), in Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day.
2. Madame Blavatsky talks with her Master, in Blavatsky.
3. Lucy sleeps just before her alarm goes off, while David drinks beer and watches TV after his night shift – screen grab from archive recording of London/My Lover.
4. David at the police station, in Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day.
5. Daedalus and Icarus (in the laptops), in Once I Was Dead.
6. Narcissus, fixating over himself, notices Echo fixating over him, in Back at You.
7. Samir, the taxi driver, reminisces, in Sarajevo Story
8. Waltzing in MyLife.
9. Rehearsal for the storm scene in The Tempest .
10. The Mesmerist induces a confession from Mathias, in The Good Actor | Installation.
11. Tilly makes up as Ophelia, in The Shift.
Preface: On This Book (and How to Read It)
Alex Mermikides and Andy Lavender
This volume is made up of playtexts from productions created by the theatre company Lightwork over a twelve-year period (with one text from Lightwork’s precursor company, Academy Productions). During this time, the company experimented with different ways of making performances, and the texts reflect this experimentation, taking various forms. As such, they go some way towards exemplifying the changing nature of the ‘dramatic text’ in twenty-first-century theatre (see Alex Mermikides’s introductory chapter for a fuller discussion of this). The playtexts are records of past productions, and so in compiling and editing them we were faced with the conundrum of how to represent for the reader a production made up of multiple art forms, including those – sound, image, movement – that are not easily captured through the written word.
Partly in answer to this, the volume includes short chapters by Lightwork colleagues involved in making the productions. These appear before and sometimes after each playtext. The idea is that these will elucidate some of the ways in which authorship plays out in the material practices of collaborative theatre-making. There are texts by writers (Dan Rebellato and Clare Bayley) and about the director as a facilitator of individual and collective authorship. But you will also hear from other creators: a sound designer, a scenographer, an actor, a technical operator, a movement director and so on. Each contributor writes from their own disciplinary and personal perspective – so these chapters, like the performance texts, are also disparate in style and tone.
These disparities of format, style and tone, in both playtexts and ‘On …’ sections, mean that the volume has a fragmentary feel (though the playtexts and chapters are complete in and of themselves). Cohesiveness was not our main aim when compiling the volume. It felt more important to reflect the company’s commitment to collaboration and shared authorship, which resulted in taking very different approaches from one production to the next. It is this openness to different voices and perspectives, alongside a prevailing focus on narrative and theme, that gives the volume its coherence. In any case, it seems useful to provide the following notes to help orientate the reader, given that the volume presents inherently elusive texts from an ephemeral and three-dimensional art form. In a spirit of gentle guidance, we suggest some dos and don’ts.
Do

- Start where you fancy. The texts are presented in chronological order, but there is no need to read them sequentially;
- feel free to read the playtexts without reading any accompanying material;
- conversely, read the chapters and commentaries separately from the performance texts. In any case, the contributors may discuss productions other than the one that is adjacent to their chapter (although this usually provides the main point of focus);
- as you read the performance texts, ‘see through’ the texts to imagine the kind of theatre (process-based, multiform) they envisage. The chapters and the photos may help with that process of envisaging the productions. The show you imagine may well not be the same as the one that happened, but it is equally, if not more, valid;
- consider staging any of these yourself. The texts are also outlines (though not blueprints) for future productions. A section on performing rights follows!
Don’t

- Expect that every performance text has the same format. Some take the relatively familiar form of a playscript. Others are schematics or descriptions. For the latter, we have included notes about the production process and outcome;
- expect the accompanying chapters to explain the texts or follow the same format from one to another. They are deliberately eclectic and written from the perspective of individual practitioners. Some are anecdotal, some reflect upon issues relating to form and process, some provide wider critical and theoretical context;
- be too alarmed about typos within the playtexts – we have deliberately left in some of the particularities of spelling and punctuation where these denote (for example) a way in which the words might be delivered;
- stop thinking about the theatre. Everything in this book is geared towards the pleasure of live performance.
Note on Performing Rights
For enquiries about performing rights to Blavatsky and The Shift , please email [e-mail] and [e-mail] .
For enquiries about performing rights to Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day , please email [e-mail] and [e-mail] .
For enquiries about performing rights to all other texts, please email [e-mail] .
Thanks
Many thanks to all those who made, presented and supported the work one way or another. Thanks in particular to the members of Lightwork’s Board over the years: Undine Engelmann, Sarah Gorman, Jen Harvie, Jeremy Johnston, Lucy Richardson and Bridget Thornborrow. Without your guidance and support none of this would have been possible
PART 1
STARTING POINTS

Figure 1: Roland muses (‘in a kind of nostalgia’), in Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day . Photo: Pau Ros.
1
On Lightwork and Twenty-First-Century Theatre
Alex Mermikides
A confession: when I first joined the company whose work features in this volume, I had assumed that the name, Lightwork, had something to do with the tech. My first encounter took place in 1999. The company’s director, Andy Lavender, was then my Ph.D. supervisor and had invited me to observe rehearsals – this was the start of a collaboration that would involve me, in various roles, in three productions. We were in the disused Strand London Underground station where rehearsals were afoot for a production called Here’s What I Did with My Body One Day ( HWID ). It was a cavernous and cold space rendered barely inhabitable by industrial heaters and floodlights. On that first day, I watched an experiment with a pen-cam (a then-novel device) – Lavender had set up a live feed from the pen, held by performer Kevin Walton, which projected images of his notebook onto a screen behind him. This device transformed Kevin into Roland Barthes philosophising in a Paris café and materialising written words as he spoke them (the part was later played by David Annen).
Images of light permeate my memories of subsequent