Virtuality and Performance

Each week I have been baffled by the subject we have talked about. This subject has been the hardest for me as I did not fully understand the material we were looking at. Also as I was quite new to the internet in terms of websites and youtube i found it hard to catch up to the other students, unfortunately I also get bad headaches from staring at a computer for too long and as this lesson was based around a computer screen it made me dislike searching for endless material. I knew that this was all information that would come in handy in the future as the internet expanded especially as businesses become more technological so I decided to stick it out and see what I learn along the way. At the end of the course I still feel a dislike to computers and the internet but I do feel that I have become more able within my reseacrh abilitys and the way that the computer and internet work. If you click on the link 'My First Attempt at a Blog Page' I think you will see the progression I have made in this module, as my first blog shows how completely lost I was at the beginning of the module.

As the weeks progressed, I began to enjoy looking at theatre companies who use media within thier performances, The builders association was one that I really enjoyed researching into and also the Survaillance Camera Players. The Survaillance Camera Players perofrm infront of CCTV cameras meaning only the person survailling the tape will see it. It helps them promote thier political views of the government and CCTV watching our everymove. They create a social protest about the fact we are watched by video cameras everyday.

There were many performance groups which I feel make a good use of technology within performance professionally, also the adavance in technology helps within theatres to create more impressive perormances. Other types of performance on the internet are youtube videos, Youtube allows anyone to produce thier own film and share it with the world. This was something I took into consideration with my group project. The internet is enableing to become famous from the internet. Perez Hilton was a celeb gossip blogger in hollywood, now his is in magazines and becoming friends with the celeebs he slated on his site, all this making him famous himself.

Week by week we looked at more performance artist on the web, but the performers I was interested in were LIVE performers, this is way more interesting to me than the internet ever will be. The use of technology in performance is useful but searching live performances on a computer screen is not, I would rather watch these performances but to read about them I have to use the internet. The Essay we were assessed on helped me to look more at live perofmance in a virtual world and I felt writing this essay helped to understand what was going on more in the classroom. As I struggled to understand what we were talking about at the begining I felt I would have to work extra hard to gain an understanding of the subject. I honestly still feel unaware to some of the subjects discussed but I have a greater knowledge of what Virtaulity inPerformance is and how it can be achieved. I enjoyed learning about different types of performance and I feel that this subject has enabled me to gain new skills and a wider knowledge of what you can achieve in performance and on the internet. I know that there is much more for me to learn on this subject and this class has given me the tools to find out more. I do feel that my lack of skills at the begining of the semester made it hard for me to understand the work I was researching. The internet will always be a frustrating concept to me as I refuse to become inmmersed in the world of the virtual.

The creation of Gwynnie

Gwynnie is my alter ego. She is an internet lover. She doe's not leave the house and does everything she needs to via the internet.

When I began thinking about my character I pictured her as an opposite to myself, very well spoken, extremely intelligent and obbssesed with the internet. I'm not saying that I am not any of these things I just mean that she takes them to the exteme. She knows the ins and outs of a computer and the internet, so for this role i have had to research more into these areas for exaple what the world wide web actually is. Something is still don't quite understand. I have enjoyed creating my character but I do feel that my performance will let me down. As I do not feel confident with my acting ability I am trying really hard to work on my character and the nerves I feel when about to rehearse, never mind perform. I know that this is something I will need to work on and I intend to try and get more involved with practical work next semester.

Group Project - Why?

For many weeks now I have been one part of The FiFi and Gwynnie show. I am of course the Gwynnie part.

It all started when myself and classmate Thea Plews shared our hatred for the internet. I am not complety against it, I don't mind emailing and news but as for the rest I can't stand it. the internet is making our world an unsociable place where the only communication is made through typing and a screen. If you were wanting a proper conversation with someone then I believe the only way to do it is face to face. Another aspect of the internet I hate is the lack of privacy, for example on face book when ever two of my friends have a conversation I can see it, as it shows up when I log in. I don't want to know what everyone else is doing all of the time and I certainly don't want everyone seeing what I'm up to all of the time. Once you have written something, posted, emailed, messaged etc somehting on the internet you are in essence then virtual. This blog would never have been created if it wasn't for Virtuality and Performance.

Back to our group project, we were asked to create a piece of work on any subject that interested us to do with the internet and performance. Ian (our tutor) gave us the idea of working as a double act. thus creating FiFi and Gwynnie our alto egos that were obsessed with the internet. We created the page 'Homage to the Internet' to let our alter egos come to life and speak to the other internet fans around the world. On this page we expressed our false love for the internet and tried to illuminate the internets bad points by glorifying them. This included, Happy Slapping, Sick Videos form Youtube, Chat rooms were peadophile have been grooming young children and been caught. basically telling people that these were not bad things and how ease they are to use. We looked into performing with a fake identity, something done on a day to day basis. It is very simple to create a new you onthe internet and also to steal someone elses identity. The internet does not ask for comfirmation you are that person before setting up a facebook account, you can become anyone. WE decided to focus on Internet Chat room, performing with a false identity, Blogging and Happy slapping as these showed different kinds of performance by everyday people. We researched out of class time and met up each week to discuss new ideas. The rehearsal process went well and we set up another blog to form a script together whilst apart for the christmas holidays. This also enabled us to discuss our ideas face to face as we had done the work seperatly.

As Thea and I shared similar views on the internet it was easy for us to pick ideas that we felt would be appropriate for our Blog. One of the major problems that we faced was as we both were not computer or internet savvy it took us a while to understand how it worked. Our troubles with the internet, I felt, put me off working on one. After an hour of sitting at a computer i become irritable as it seems to take me a lot longer than anyone else to get things done. From the begining we worked with pen and paper, a foreign concept for some in highly computerised society. We researched into other performance on the internet to find a stlye to work with. Askaninja was one that interesed me as he used a comic approach to answer questions and was shown in a simple formatt usually with one camera angle and only lasting up to 5 minutes. We wnated our performance to look homemade by two people who were socially inept. We tried to use comedy within our performance as we would be showing disturbing material we want the audience to become in a sense unaware that what they are laughing at is serious and for them to then realise that it is a serious problem and that the material shown is not funny in the slightest. I have been researching news stories and articles relating to the material chosen and I could not believe all the sadness the internet has created. Article after Articles on chat room peodophillia, Posting of deaths on the internet, chat rooms dedicated to death and suicide, rape, incest and more. I ask myself 'how can this go on without being noticed?' does society not care enough to find out what is out there on the internet and how easy it is to find? As more and more children sign up to chat rooms, websites and more are they fully aware of the dangers, I have always been told from a young age 'you do not meet people off the internet' and i can see why, with more news stories appearing everyday about young teenagers meeting strangers off the internet and never returning home. As we live in a society were now young parents are logging in on a daily basis will this message get lost in time? I sincerley hope not, this is something I feel very strongly about and is why I hate the internet so much.
FiFi and Gwynnie show all of the above on their blog and video to show the audience the dangers on the internet.

The Builders Association

This week I have been looking at The Builders Association, this is a company which use's mixed multi media using text, sound, arcitechture and performances. They create pieces of theatre which explore the impact on technology on human presence. Their project titled Invisible Cities focuses on the 'digital divide' and questions what is a city and how different classe's of the community see the city in a different light. I personally found this company interesting as they use media within their pieces as the focus and as the visual. They have worked at the Barbican Theatre in the past so watch out for them in the future!

Homage to the internet!

So, Thea and myself are creating a piece of theatre which comments on the way that the internet can be used, I never knew how much bad material was out there on the internet and how easy it is to get hold of negative videos. We aim to expose the internet for what it can be and the dangers of it. I now think twice before adding on facebook and signing up to new accounts as who knows who could end up with my details and image? scary isn't it? I want every one to think about this more and regain some privacy in thiers lifes instead of announcing it on facebook.

But then again, the fact that your announcing something on facebook is sort of a performance as you are showing yourself off to be recognised, for someone to become involved in your life and for them to comment on it. A bit like a soap opera, you know who everyone is, their history and you can become caught up in thier everyday lives checking to see what happens next. The more I progress in this lesson I begin to have a love/hate relationship with the internet and the way you can perform. It is another form of Reality TV which could destroy Drama, as our entertainment shifts from gifted actors to eccentric every day characters who just want to be famous!

Is theatre past it?

Theatre- a picnic?

You have two kinds of shows on Broadway - revivals and the same kinds of musicals over and over again - all spectacles. You get your tickets for the Lion King a year in advance, and essentially a family comes as if to a picnic, and they pass on to their children the idea that that's what theatre is - a spectacular musical you see once a year, a stage version of a movie. It has nothing to do with theatre at all. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture...I don't think the theatre will die per se, but it's never going to be what it was. You can't bring it back. It's gone. It's a tourist attraction.

Stephen Sondheim

To me this quote has an extremly valid point, when will there be a completely new broadway show? can there ever be one? why does the industry insist on re-creating something that has been done to death!

Although, the best thing about theatre is its diversity. There are hundreds of types of theatre, virtual becoming one of them. You get to choose what you want to see, there is enough theatre out there!

understanding the virtual

I am finding it increasingly hard to undeerstand and justify performance in the virtual. why is it better for things to be recorded on internet or film? what is the fascination with you tube? is it not just another level of you've been framed?