We got the opportunity as a group to start the process of performing in the gallery during lesson time. It was a chance to see how things worked in the space and to see how our initial ideas had developed into starting points for our final work. My group brought together more developed writing that we have been creating over the last couple of weeks and incorporated published feminist works into it. This was a chance to see if it fit together and to see if all of our work connected. It also was important to see if it was appropriate for the specific space in the gallery we wanted to perform in.
One issue that is become apparent for most of the performances happening in the gallery and museum is worrying over the of lack of audience engagement. When we tried out the start of our idea to the rest of the class, we had decided to read all of our work out at the same time, this created a loud noise, and it almost became confusing and chaotic – for the audience to hear exactly what we are saying and understand the narratives it would mean there proximity towards us to be very close. An issue with this is audience members especially ones who were not specifically invited on the day, may not feel comfortable coming close towards us, or on the other hand they may feel like they are not allowed. There are a lot of restrictions in the museum and this could feel like another one of those restrictions as they may not want to ‘disturb’ what we are doing.
Many people who come to the gallery will find it is a quiet secluded space where they are able to gaze at the artwork and explore everything in there without any disturbance. One major thing we had to be aware of is consideration for the public and of course trying to keep noise to a respectable level.
Another issue that we may face is the face that in the gallery we are performing it will be a blank space. The artwork that we writing about will no longer be there which means it may not be obvious to the audience where our narratives have come from or what we are talking about. In a way this is interesting as we are becoming the absent voices however it could be a disadvantage in trying to engage our audience as all their vision will be is our group, displayed as artwork in an empty room.
Therefore the invitations for our performance therefore are key. Each of the performances can be very engaging and even educational if the audience are brave enough to want to listen and have the patience to watch. “Theatres and Museums have increasingly become symbolic and actual neighbours, sharing the task of providing entertaining and educational experiences that draw people to a district, a city, a region and even a nation.” (Bennett, 2013 p.3) If our invitations are done correctly and entice to audience to come and watch it will allow other audience members who may not have previously known we were going to be there to also come and engage. Although it may be situated in a gallery it could still be as effective and perhaps even more intimate than a piece of theatre in the museum.
Works Cited
Bennett, Susan (2013) Theatre and Museums, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan