PHOTO © zita žutić koňák
THE MOMENT IT STOPPED
We used to sit and eat cheap chocolate bars from Sainsbury's. I was young, I didn't care. He was tall, skinny and a bit funny looking but I liked it. We would drive around in his battered old camper van and listen to Tom Vek on tapes that we have recorded over. He would always eat fish finger sandwiches for his tea. I used to wear his old t-shirts when I went out dancing. One night we were laying in bed and it all happened at once. He's met someone else, her name is Emily, She's nothing like me and that was it. He left. I wonder if he still remembers.
A one-to-one performance. Audience members are given an envelope with instructions inside. They are invited to follow the performer to a chosen site. They are part participant, part voyeur. A story unfolds and then it stops. The audience is the one who decides what happens next.
A one-to-one performance. Audience members are given an envelope with instructions inside. They are invited to follow the performer to a chosen site. They are part participant, part voyeur. A story unfolds and then it stops. The audience is the one who decides what happens next.
THE MOMENT IT STOPPED.
Devised by Larry's Goodbye
Director: Zita Zutic Konak
Performer: Lauren Hart
2008
I Am Still Your Worst Nightmare Live Art Platform Arnolfini, Bristol (UK)
Start @ Trash performance event, Leeds (UK)
Devised by Larry's Goodbye
Director: Zita Zutic Konak
Performer: Lauren Hart
2008
I Am Still Your Worst Nightmare Live Art Platform Arnolfini, Bristol (UK)
Start @ Trash performance event, Leeds (UK)
audience feedback
Larry's Goodbye at Trash in Leeds created an interesting atmosphere of uncertainty and suspicion. As a few people began to notice Lauren or Zita whispering in the ears of unsuspecting clientele then quietly removing them from where they were drinking, chatting or watching the stage, before returning them in an equally surreptitious manner, occasional puzzled expressions and confused glances could be spotted amongst the crowd. Had the event been busier, the subtle exchanges between punters and the girls might have gone completely unnoticed.
Being 'in on' the performance but only to the extent where I was aware that it was happening (what 'it' was I didn't know), and already knowing Lauren and Zita made my experience of the event a strange but interesting one. Despite being taken to sit conspicuously on the floor of one of Leeds' busiest shopping streets, it felt isolated and private, edging into the uncomfortable as I silently debated whether to try to participate in the one-way conversation that ensued, or to keep quiet and listen.
The allocation of a sealed envelope to every participant added a further dimension of secrecy and intimacy, and removed any sense of ephemerality that might initially have been felt by those involved in the encounter or witnessing its outset from the bar.
Although gently and discreetly, the performance shook people out of their comfort zones, plunging them - in all of five minutes - into moments of both exposure and intimacy, before dumping them back into the real world of a Leeds bar on a Monday night.
Being 'in on' the performance but only to the extent where I was aware that it was happening (what 'it' was I didn't know), and already knowing Lauren and Zita made my experience of the event a strange but interesting one. Despite being taken to sit conspicuously on the floor of one of Leeds' busiest shopping streets, it felt isolated and private, edging into the uncomfortable as I silently debated whether to try to participate in the one-way conversation that ensued, or to keep quiet and listen.
The allocation of a sealed envelope to every participant added a further dimension of secrecy and intimacy, and removed any sense of ephemerality that might initially have been felt by those involved in the encounter or witnessing its outset from the bar.
Although gently and discreetly, the performance shook people out of their comfort zones, plunging them - in all of five minutes - into moments of both exposure and intimacy, before dumping them back into the real world of a Leeds bar on a Monday night.