Danny and I began our first ‘tea with strangers’ mission on the 16th of March with our camera and voice recorder. We created an intro for when someone opened the door that goes as follows;

‘Hi there, sorry to bother you, we are two second year Drama students exploring the idea of tea bringing people together. Our aim is to share one hundred cups of tea with one hundred strangers within Lincoln. Is there any chance you would like to partake?’ (We show our student cards to show proof of being students at Lincoln University)

We went to a total of thirty-five houses, with twenty-five of these doors being opened. This being so, twenty-two of these people gave an excuse and didn’t want to be a part of our performance. Some of the excuses were a little tenuous; however, it was their choice. The three people that allowed us into their home were varied and obviously from different walks of life. One man, Isaac, who gave us permission to use his name within the performance and documentation, was quite a calm barman. Four students from Courts were quite interesting but this being so, a man and woman from West Parade. They were very conversational, making jokes, and we felt very welcomed. Although we only have seven people in total at the minute, we’re already seeing differences in the Lincoln community. We acknowledge that people will be very reluctant to allow two students into their house but the more and more we try, the more varied and interesting our results will be – this is proving to be a complicated activity, but the instillation of all the archived pieces will be a great final product as a review of Lincoln.