One of our tasks this week was to look at a theatre company. Our reading group took an interest in Blast Theory. Their work uses interactive media, creating new forms of performance; their work “often blurs the boundaries between the real and the fictional.” (Blast Theory, 2015)

One performance we looked at was called ‘Ghostwriter’ and consisted of the audience becoming part of the performance whereby they are taken around the performance space (a museum) whilst listening to a voice recording on a phone. The use of this modern day technology is able to make us question events of the past in a personal way, due to the stories being told by the woman on the other end. This ties nicely with the location, as it able to transpose the past into the present. A museum is a place for things to be preserved much like the memories we all hold within us – all from the past but can still be here in the present

. – ‘Invisible Bullets’

The other performance we explored was called ‘Invisible Bullets.’ It was a piece that lasted up to 12 hours and re-enacted a murder over and over again. Each time it was performed differently, e.g. “sometimes performed casually in balaclavas, at other times psychotically in underwear.” (Blast Theory, 2015) This performance evoked the idea of how we can learn things from the past (each murder) and apply it to future situations (the other murders). I also liked the many different methods of murder which showed that they couldn’t run in a chronological or linear way. Whoever died previously becomes alive again for the next performance which shows that in a performance setting, time isn’t constricting.

After discussing our chosen company and listening to other groups and their choices, it certainly gave ideas to think about. This is leading me towards using technology in my final performance, as I think the contrast between modern day gadgets and a museum filled with past artifacts is something that could present the theme of past and present – as a duel medium – a contemporary medium as well as a diversity between past and new.

Works Cited

Blast Theory (2015) Invisible Bullets. [Online] Available from: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/invisible-bullets/ [Accessed 16 February 2015]

Blast Theory (2015) Our History and Approach. [Online] Available from: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/our-history-approach/ [Accessed 16 February 2015]