Site-Specific PerformanceBath Spa UniversityFriday 3rd December

Lucy and Barney HeywoodCo-Founders, Stand + Stare Collective

Stand + Stare Collective

Stand + Stare produce theatre in non-traditional spaces and place key importance on the role of audiences. We aim to create theatrical experiences in which people feel immersed and part of the performance without being made to feel intimidated.

New stories : immersive experiences

What we do

• Large scale shows.

- Extravagant in terms of time, people and resources.

- Site-specific.

- 2/3 weeks intense devising and production period.

• Smaller experiences.

- Often interactive.

- Sometimes with no live performers.

- Either for commercial clients or to tour.

Stand & Stare 09

• First show.

• February 2009.

• Directed by Rob Tannion and Greg Banks.

• Over 60 local and international performers, artists, designers, and technicians.

Stand & Stare 09 promo vidhttp://www.vimeo.com/16672187

Premise

• The building represented Rosemary's life, containing all her memories.

• The audience experienced them in a non-linear way, until the final scene.

• Rosemary was a female Elvis impersonator. Therefore Elvis acted as the continuity throughout her life, as well as providing a soundtrack.

Composed Music

• Thomas Johnson.

• Choral arrangement to the words of Leisure by WH Davis.

• Other songs composed for the performance.

- Christina. Performed by Naomi Said.

- Yes. Performed by The Lazy Susan’s.

Action Over Discuss

• Met on a local common in our cars.

• Used what we had to experiment with ideas. Some things worked, others didn’t.

• Easier to develop an idea that is already a reality.

The Car Show

• Four shows all performed in cars.

• Each between 5 and 10 mins long.

• Audience are greeted by our sales team who book them into one of the performances.

• Various technologies and performance techniques used.

The Car Show 09 promo vidhttp://www.vimeo.com/16560210

The Shows

• Nobody Smiles In Frisco

- Film Noir, drive-in movie, mini projector, McGuffin.

• The Flight of The Princess

- Binaural audio recording, no live performers, headphones and blind fold, found and manipulated audio recording of Princess Diana.

• Robomance

- Two wind-up robots fall in love, operated by puppeteers.

• The Secret Car Club

- Short wave radio signal picked up by car radio, miniature people inside car instruct audience to do things.

SS ARCADIA

• Second large scale show.

• May 2010. Part of Mayfest (Bristol’s festival of contemporary theatre)

• Directed by Rob Tannion.

• Over 60 local and international performers, artists, designers, and technicians.

SS Arcadia promo vidhttp://www.vimeo.com/16559975

Premise

• Audience entered as passengers on an ocean liner.

• They were free to explore with gentle guidance.

• Upper decks contained a casino, cabins, hairdressers, boutique (where audience could dress up), cocktail bar, beach, lift, and dinning room.

• Lower decks contained the galley, chapel, engine room, and hold.

• The central story line focused on the captains demise and the guilt he felt for his neglected son. This was manifested in a series of stowaway’s.

“That constant niggle”

Floor Plans

• Table shows what is happening in every room, minute by minute.

• All performers and technicians start there stop watches on the bell.

Time sheet

The Children of Modernity

• Set in the early 1970’s on a commune.

• Rossie, our protagonist, has gone missing. Through a series of interactions and explorations, we invite our audiences to find out what has happened to her.

• Takes place in a bell tent erected indoors.

• Accommodates up to 8 audience members at a time.

• Lasts between 25 and 30 mins.

• No live performers.

• Uses audio, video projection, and interaction with objects.

• Chapter 1 of a larger story we are developing.

Project Europa (Forthcoming)

• Distributed story delivered across multiple locations and media.

• Audience enter a world and become part of a story that unfolds over a month.

• Continuation of The Children of Modernity.

• The story is centered on Dan Alder, whose fiancée has been brainwashed by a modernist cult named Project Europa. He must unpick the past in order to save their future... and ours.

References and Inspiration

• Nonchalance - The Jejune Institute Elsewhere Public Works Agency

• Punchdrunk- The Night Chauffeur The Duchess of Malfi Mask of the Red Death

• Rob Tannion - DV8 Complicite Stan Won’t Dance

• 1929 - Hall Threshold

• Shunt - Money The Lounge

The Jejune Institutehttp://jejuneinstitute.org/

The Night Chauffeurhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cZtBLqf6V8

Crece - Ignacio crosses the moonhttp://www.youtube.com/user/RobTannion#p/u/6/oEdR1asMsRE

Any Questions?

barney@standandstare.com

lucy@standandstare.com

www.standandstare.com