We're Back!!!
First off we would like to thank everyone for the support on our last project.
However we're back with a new performance which will premier in April 2010 (Dates to follow).
The time has finally arrived for the performance of a lifetime. Tonight at 7.30 the exhibition starts at the juice bar in rufus court (beside Alexanders). The performance 'Verbrauchen Syndrome' starts straight after at 8.30. Be there for the exhibition to aquire your stamp as your ticket into the performance. This is not an oppertunity to miss as this performance is sure to 'consume' you...
· SUNDAY 24TH MAY (13:00) –
ZOMBIE RELAY RUN IN TOWN
· TUESDAY 2ND JUNE 2009 (19:30 – 21:00) –
BREAKING TRAITS PRESENTS ‘VERBRAUCHEN SYNDROME’ IN THE JUICE BAR, RUFUS COURT, CH1 2JW (NEXT TO ALEXANDERS)
Although new to the UK the first cases of the virus were documented in Germany in the late 1960's although not much can be said about the virus as related research remains to this date limited and vague. Strains of the 'Verbrauchen Syndrome' (named so by German biologist - Dr F. Gunther who studied the virus for many years before falling victim to the disease himself) have now been discovered in Hoole and in the Upton area of Chester. Named predominantly as a dormant virus with no obvious physical attributes, research suggests that up to a staggering 90% of the Chester population could already be infected, with further cases predicted to arise in the shortcoming future. Further research will be revealed to you shortly.
Breaking Traits.
Creating Verbrauchen Syndrome
The process began with the idea of looking through newspapers to identify a common story that was featured repeatedly. The common article that we found was that of Swine Flu. We looked at how the media reported this epidemic and the way in which fear was portrayed to an audience. The theme of Swine Flu led to us taking the term ‘virus’ and understanding it from a metaphoric view. A ‘virus’ could then be interpreted as someone’s fears, flaws or even attributes. We took this notion further by taking the idea that over time the art form of drama has fallen victim to a ‘virus’ as it has adapted, grown, and spread across new boundaries and taken on greater forms – much like the traits of a physical virus. This idea, therefore, formed a strong basis for the performance which we would devise.
We wanted a name for the performance which would reflect this idea of a ‘virus’ which could be interpreted in many ways. ‘Verbrauchen’ translates to ‘all-consuming’ – a virus which can be identified by the qualities of taking over and effecting their host.
The possible location of our performance was a pressing issue which we wished to resolve as a priority to enable us to gauge the technical possibilities and practical realities that we could achieve. This did prove to be a challenging task, as we found out that many of the spaces we required would need a high financial expenditure. However, we eventually found the location of the Juice Bar in Rufus Court which would be appropriate to our piece and suitable within our financial restraints. After discussing our performance with the manager of the Juice Bar, the idea was introduced of a possible art exhibition to take place before the actual performance, which would be linked to the ‘virus’ theme of our performance. This would enable the audience to look around and observe the art work even if they could not attend the final performance.
In the advertising of the performance we wanted to be ambiguous to the fact that we were referring to a metaphorical virus as well as a physical virus. We put up posters which only had the information of ‘14/05/09’ and ‘12:00, 14:00, 16:00’, to gain interest around something so unclear. On this date four of us used make-up to achieve the appearance of a physical virus, and ran through Chester town in a zombie-like fashion to raise awareness of our production. The other two group members filmed the run from different locations to capture the street theatre and the reactions of the public from different perspectives. We did the run three times in the day, which were advertised on the poster. The first run consisted of the zombies racing through town, gathering public attention and interest. The second run began in a different part of town so they could run through the shopping centre and react in a different environment. This proved successful at gaining attention, however we were asked to leave the shopping centre by a rather confused and intrigued security guard. We all handed out leaflets to the public, out of character, to give them more information of our main event. On the third run we took a different angle, and had the zombies go through town acting completely normal, integrated within the community, to gain an alternative perspective on the public’s reactions. The purpose of filming the runs was to enable us to use the footage within the performance.
After the success of the first run day, which gained public and journalistic interest, we decided to do another run on 24/05/09, this time involving the public, the followers of our blog and facebook group. The public can do the virus make-up themselves and be involved in a zombie relay run. So anyone who is interested, it begins at 13:00 on 24th May, in the town centre.
In further progression to the performance content, we choreographed a movement piece, themed on the ‘virus’ of love. We have also discussed at length the additional content of our performance, which will contain a variety of technology to portray our message of a metaphorical ‘virus’. For example, inspired by our marketing campaign run through town, we are going to project film footage of the town onto a screen and re-create the run within our venue.
