POTENCIALNA PREDSTAVA/ A POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE
Koncept/Concept:
Eva Nina Lampič & Urška Brodar
Nastopajo in razvoj projekta /Performed and Devised by Eva Nina Lampič, Urška Brodar, Melissa Krodman
Foto in video dokumentacija/Foto and Video Documentation Da ni Modrej
Produkcija/Production:
Gledališče Glej/Glej Theatre, Barbara Poček
Koprodukcija/Co-operation:
Ballhaus Ost, Tina Pfurr
Hvala/Thanks: Nejc Cijan Garlatti, Maruša Majer, Vito Weis, Damjan IHc, Nassim Sole i man pour, Shir in Ghaffari, Fabian Löwenbrück, Tina Pfurr, Daniel Schräder, Maria Rösster
Potenc/aIna predstava z rabo minimalnih sredstev prevprašuje bistvo sodobnega gfedališča in vzpodbuja domišljijo ter zmožnost vizualizacije Potencialna predstava je delo v nastajanju, spremljate ga lahko VHM na pote nt i a Ipe rfo rm a nce.tu m b I r.com./A Potential Performance i^^Ji questions the essence of theatre today with minimal means. It seeks to stimulate the imagination and capacity for visualisation.
You can follow the work in progress on A Potential Performance
/ vjfl
online at potentialperformance.tumblr.com.
Melissa Krodman je udeleženka programa Global Connections-ON the ROAD, ki ga financira fundacija Andrew W. Melton in vodi Theatre Communications Group, Ameriška državna organizacija za profesionalno ^cprofitno gledališče./Melissa Krodman is a participant in the Global Connections-ON the ROAD program, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the professional not-for-profit American theatre.
Potencialno predstavo smo razvijali v Ljubljani in v Berlinu, s podporo rezidenc neg a programa Ministrstva za kulturo RS.M Potential Performance was developed in Ljubljana and Berlin, with support of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture residence program.
Predstava nastaja ob podpori Prešernovega gledališča Kranj z namenom promocije slovenske dramatike in Šeligove nagrade./The performance was devised with the support of Presern Theater Kranj and the Šeligo award with the purpose of promoting Slovene dramatics.
Glej, Ust!
Letnik 8 št. S
december 2016
APRIL 2016
Potencialna predstava
je predstava, ki je ni, bi pa lahko bila
se pred nami zgodi samo skozi fragment,
delček, nadomestek
kot celota obstaja v domišljiji
si jo predstavljamo, kije predstavljena
raziskuje razmerje med prisotnostjo in
odsotnostjo, med tem, kaj je prisotno,
kaj je odsotno, kaj je prisotno skozi
odsotnost, kaj je in česa ni, kaj dam, česa
ne dam, kaj manjka, kaj je pomanjkljivo,
kje je luknja, kaj se zgodi, kaj je
nadomeščeno
je lahko večja od dejanskih možnosti gledališča in sploh sredstev, ki jih imamo na voljo
je hibrid med dejansko in zamišljeno predstavo
NEKAJ OSNOVNIH SMERNIC ZA DELO
raziskovanje postopkov, ki stimulirajo gledalčevo domišljijo
če vem, Če si predstavljam, da bi se nekaj lahko zgodilo, je zame to enako, če ne celo bolj zanimivo, kot če se zares zgodi
generiranje materiala po principu izmenjave predlogov
izmenjava domišljije in skupno grajenje imaginarnega prostora/predstave
fragment kot predstavnik celote
zamenjava, nadomeščanje
s predstavljanjem ustvarjamo novo realnost
kolektivno ustvarjanje
čas
odnos performerji - publika ali bolj predstava -publika
možgani vedno do/za/polnijo končni dogodek se zgodi v domišljiji kompozicija, improvizacija ponavljanje, naštevanje, variiranje postopki prevajanja organski razvoj zaupanje
vzpostavljanje in dekonstrukcija
1/Ve ivere working on this piece over scattered periods of time during the year 2016.
What follows is a live transcription of a rehearsal period in Berlin in October 2016. The edited comment for clarification purposes is in Italics and was added later. This is an archive document.
<o !
ft I


ciairül
dstava
bAY 1:4. OCTOBER
Urska, Nina a fit? Afetfssa at the 2nd floor office and the 4"1 f/oor Sftjdio ar the Ballhaus Ost.
First day of working together. lVe start vvith a more genera/ talk.
FoHowing artists' processes Arch i ve/docu mentation
Wooster group dailies Sneaking into process Workbook for the piece Communicating
Interview over summer for a paper denied journalists but finally said yes Was very hard to explain to journalist what they are trying to do
Trilogy — Urska with Jure and Katarina
2 years to make a piece
go off the way, find the strange
connections somewhere
work intensively for 2-3 weeks, have a
break, inspire, gather, work on some part
we don't know the end result
know the topic, find the form
that best represents the way
to carry the content
is this a way you were taught to work? No.
A piece of text you have to stage. This is so boring.
The people also have to fit together. Freedom. Trust.
Faiture. You can't successfully work on It all of the time.
We are
Waiting for something Nina:
you stand back and you wonder how you made this material
Meh
Process running counter to what is valued today. Justifying the inefficiency
Thoughts on Non-linear time; lack of interest In linear narrative
Then vye start to speak about What has happened during this process up until this rnornent.
What is a good beginning
Urška: we have found if you start at the beginning, you are stuck
We have a feeling now that the start has to be very vague. It has to be vague enough. Every time we say "now let's start" - it's not very good Do we start when the audience buys the ticket?
Or when they walk in the room? Urška/Nina:
We have a video of 4 hours of material Walking in the dark 1Û minutes of material is something interesting
o
Î
with Jure and Katarina one of us will always get fearful and depressed never all three of us one of us really takes the lead
Give ourselves tasks. One person can't write anything the other two write two pages.
lVe lvafc/i the video. Now.
It's getting worse and worse - it's terrible.
The more you try to hide that you
don't know, the worse it got.
When we say we really are lost
now - we acknowledge it
[Snap]
it is interesting again.
We are bored, we come to the point of boring the audience [with our not knowing] it becomes the opposite - [there is the space for something interesting]
Urška:
We are not staging a piay
You have to be aware of the means of production that you use when you make a performance This is the material - what we have is the situation/the current setting
Nina:
Using both the imagined space and imagining the real - don't say that that's the situation you're actually in - playing with different realities, "it could be iike this'V'and it is like this" we are interested in how to play with this. That you don't know exactly where you are.
Urška tells a story, which works as a good exarnple of what ive are after.
Urška:
When we were out hiking one day and we stopped to eat We saw some kids playing
"Do you see that there's an old man in the tree?" "No, there isn't."
"Yes, there is, if I telf you that there Is." Adults don't really do this.
Mel:
adults do this though. In scary ways. Politically. We say that things which are - How do you take people into an imagined space without announcing you're doing so.
Read the score. Urška and Nina ivrote a piece of teJrt and tve are reading it. 4-s an example of what n/e are after.
Nina:
What are the basic ingredients of a performance: Audience, Space, Performers, Interaction, Connection
We need to establish these and play with them. Once we establish many options/playing with the scale IF
WHAT could be
Once you have these basic elements in the room
Play with these.
Create different pictures
Add atmosphere. Sound. Music, Lights, a Feeling.
Time. Duration, how long something lasts or...
These are some basic elements and
then also this is related to time..
We want to speak about a beginning,
an end, and a break.
After a while of describing
You say, how should we begin.
We begin not at the beginning and we
Jump around in time.
The pressure of the beginning is so important When do you mention something? How do you play with time? Dramaturgically this is the middle.
At some point we arrived
There is a break and maybe this is just the end.
Someone said that the ending should be something you don't know if it is happening.
State and speed of the delivery.
Mel:
Imagination Political implications
Youth - imagination as freedom, versus becoming Nina:
Potential performance - how to work together We had this idea we want to have Slovenian performers and German performers
people who are part of the process must also have time to be present mentally, not just physically Who will have time?
Who do we need? We speak about work of Laurie Anderson and about another performance of Hamlet, where for the first half of the show 3 actors are auditioning for the role.
Met:
First half I was smitten with the performers, but then I didn't like the play. It was all about the play, so it was boring.
lVe speak about 'interruption of the real' and co-existence of different realities. By which ive are all very inspired.
Vvhat are we after.
Triggering a thought - leaving space for it For the political and social commentary
Without complaint Or desperation Or judgement
But still making the comment. In a playful form. For example "This is the last performance in the independent theatre in Slovenia until 2019" [because of dwindling funding. These experimental pieces will not happen]
Urska:
Imagine we are three performers Nina:
it is a double reality
Double reality reminds Mel of:
Wunderbaum, Looking for Paul
Critique of funding as iwell as honoring the vuoHt of Paul McCarthy.
Which reminds Urska of: FES by i/o Dimchev
We speak about these performances for a While. Then again about how ive iwrJt.
Nina:
Agreeing/Supporting
Ifs of course a ground rule that you're
going with the suggestions
Sometimes we were stuck or didn't agree
during improvising
But then we discovered we could just vote Very quickly Ifs fun
Mel:
It's also very political Urska:
But we can't do the comment like in piece by Interrobang ThAEtrokratie - (Nina Tecklenburg: Performing Stories) They did a complicated thing which they switched the voting rules from majority wins to minority wins
But we can still vote. The show is not about democracy.
Mel:
How much is fixed and how much is a score?
A question, vye are all curious about: irnprov ^s. fixed.
If it is us, then it is scripted. If it is them, then is irnprov. What are w/e interested in?
Urska:
First we didn't want it to be fixed at all. But it's a matter of how much we need so that people don't get lost We don't want to say you can't do it, but it's a strange thing when you perform - sometimes you have a good idea and sometimes you don't. But maybe our rule is that if you have an idea you can do it. I like the idea of derailing the piece I think it's a big part - of everything really But then something we have to do is try it so much so that we know what is the point at which we can go back [to the piece] and when have you gone so far that you fuck it up.
Nina:
How do we maintain believability and how are we as natural as possible. It's very hard for actors to be themselves but a performed version of themselves.
Mel:
This reminds me of Dan Rothenberg of Pig Iron's entrances and exists course. Just walking onstage and drinking a glass of water with no acting at all and then he just yells yes or no at you. No if there is acting. Yes if there is not.
Nina:
It's also about the type of context and space - which is why I like this space 4th Floor Ballhaus Ost Because perhaps you can be a type of way in this space I like that it is empty and I like all of these chairs - it feels a bit like a living room
Lunch break.
Afterwards Lve staff to speak about /ioiv to begin.
Oh -Yeah-
Before lunch I remember I was talking about the one on one [performances in Sheffield] I liked that it felt like we were only talking -And before the performance because they were quite reserved they were nervous about what to expect of me But then as t kept talking and I had a certain state, they opened up and we
were just playing a game together But of course it was the setting -outside - and not in a theatre When we were speaking about other performances...
Well the waiting is a good thing It could be a good way to start
Mel:
Yeah, like if as the audience is coming up the stairs and one performer is running down the stairs, they forgot something And the -Nina:
Yes this is good. The other two
are waiting for you.
Urška:
Yes and then there is anticipation when the other comes back. Mel:
Yes and nothing happens
Urška:
Yes exactly
If we seem like the attendees and we are asking them to join in
What is the setting? How to set people at ease? Where do we start? Waiting. Vague. Audience as a material. Do we want people to join us or not? Too what extent? And in what way?
Mel:
Kelly and I talk a lot about this.
Like we can remind them
Of where they are
To promote a behavior
For example - this is just an example -
"\ know it looks really informal in here, and
that I'm speaking to you in a certain way,
we're asking you to imagine that (or if you
imagine) that this is a proscenium theatre,
that you are sitting in rows of chairs," etc...
Urška:
Yes we can decide which of the conventions We want to keep. We can't do them all.
(conversation about tenses)
It only works in the present tense. Versus the future, or versus the past
- there is no way to satisfy.
OR it could be like this OR -
We don't say no or better It's just another possibility Listing equally good possibilities They don't compete.
Mel asks about if the objective Is about a story of (a cup) The point is not to have a story It is to build it from scratch,
there's a whole conversation about if we have the audience participate and how much is improvised, and how much is scripted, crafted by us
Nassim (White Rabbit Red Rabbit) will come to watch rehearsals
important distinction:
it is a potential performance
it IS a performance
it feels like chance but it's not
it feels effortless, like anyone can do it
it feels like something is not fixed but it is fixed
it is not improvisatory
it will seem it is participatory, but it is not, but it is but something will happen by chance it is a script
piece is about collective imagining and what is possible to build in the imagination but the endeavor of building it in real time is an illusion. It is a performance in a theatre and we don't want to pretend we don't know that.
I am speaking in German - perfect German - very quickly But obviously I am American and so I will speak English but very slowly Hello
This is in German How are you.
Say something about the day (the setting outside will always be changing) remind them I am German, speaking German then I can go on to build the performance
Urska:
Today was just about getting on the same page. Now we can begin.
Nina:
The quote of the day is (Me!):
Is there a way to work experimentally but faster?
Working experimentally is working on something new, seeing things in a new way.
DAY2:S. OCTOBER
Alei, Urška and Nina at 4th Floor, Ballhaus Ost. Sitting by the window at the improvisatory table made out of risers. Coffee, computers, notebooks. Start with a general intro talk.
we start by talking about the Berlin wall Mel passes it on her way to the theatre - imagining
Urška:
The Center of Political Beauty - Activist group/theatrical company that does political "actions" - the actions don't actually happen most of the time, they are censored, pointing out their political criticism
Meh
Was thinking about how much time I spend really allowing my mind to imagine Conversation with Quinn about the conceptual architect who makes walls of compressed air - the value of working on impossible projects/projects that can't be executed/things that cannot be made.
Urška:
Documenta in Kassel, Germany -exhibition of an artist who produced wind inside a hallway in the museum
Nina:
Venice exhibition in a pavilion. That was outside but inside
Urška:
When I'm in public I try to imagine when people are talking, what are they talking about? Or if there are tears, why are they crying?
Nina:
I'm always Imagining on a train - who are these people, where are they going, what do they do. Or when I'm alone at home and I'm in a good mood but I need to think through something.
or if I'm missing someone that's far away Urska:
Yeah like if you don't have time to call them you can speak with them even if they aren't there.
Mel:
But yes, but if we are imagining this way it is still in our present world. What about imagining something you haven't seen
Elon Musk
Urska:
Yes but also so many advances in science are accidental I think this conceptual architect's work is actually very important Random research is no longer allowed for example in acidemia
Nina:
Yes or grants make you need to explain yourself versus just explore randomly. You need to understand what you are seeking enough to ask. For example - this is maybe not a good example -but If Picasso would need to apply for a grant
Then i/ve sivitch to otrr performance, our process. And the topic of 4th wall.
Berlin wall - it is not there, but now - imagine that there is a wall and you can not see through. Or. There is a wall - imagine you can see through.
Urska:
Ah, this is maybe the way to do it Imagine a wall. You can't see us
Nina:
The topic of the 44h wall, the thing of having a wall But maybe it's one of those theatrical elements that's not useful It is too complicated.
Urska:
Yes we wouldn't necessarily want to have to go into theatre history to explain what the 4th wall ts and why it exists
That reminds Mel of her recent project.
The Sincerity Project - talking about the 4th wall, how you erect it, how you explain to the audience
Erecting the 4th wall reminds the audience that they are in the theatre, that it is a fiction
Urška:
yes in the last Beton Ltd. performance You fake authenticity which is funny because you are doing it to show something real In dramatic theatre you are supposed to think that it's real
But no one goes to the theatre
and thinks that it is real
Yes but it is a convention. A convention
that a lot of people don't question
There was theatre that was supposed
to stand in for life, to tell a story
Then there is realism
With this kind of theatre life you use these theatrical conventions to point out how life is constructed, how another way of life is possible.
What are the outer boundaries of playing with the convention
we talked for a long time about im Etchells/ Ant Hampton's library piece A Quiet Volume We also talk about \gota Krištof.
we talk about memory and about how we remember through these theatrical works triggering one another's memories and thinking
we had talked about this a lot before - and how this is interesting, how you remember and that we used the technique of the memory when you try to imagine something that doesn't exist
also I think it's kind of connected to how you try to build an experience. I think it would be a nice exercise just to exchange suggestions for the space
we talk about Matteo Fargion and Jonathan Burrows (Nina and Mel explain to Urška) their way of working. Their exchange of taking turns proposing.
Nina and Urska's process of 3 on, but the trouble of actors not clearing the space and not leaving room for someone else
Pig Iron Open Canvas rules - outside eye, rules, clearing space
Mel and Kelly's exercise adapted from Open Canvas (2012) - taking turns
They have done 3 on
Collective imagining of a performance - for some reason it always ended up in Castellucci aesthetics like blood all over, or flooding the audience, chains ail over - but it always became somehow so incredible but predictable But if you change the perspective of the person giving the description (like change to the stage manager) then it can become interesting You could be an audience member who walks out, you could be an audience member who sees the other leaving and is considering aiso going - seeing what's happening from different points of view But we also figured that the content that we produce Is not Interesting We were caught in one performance
So the potential performance is not one performance
Yes that's right - that's important to realize. We started building one and we couldn't stop building one.
It reminds me of an exercise that Kelty and I led in a workshop - it was movement based though. Indulging the l5t instinct, then skipping the first and going with the second, then you go with the third - if you did this in terms of ideas would this help with fighting against narrative linearity?
Yes because if you keep some of the steps to yourself then the others can't follow the linearity.
Maybe you have a score that purposely keeps one step silent and the others aiso don't know what it is - for example my score includes a secret step that I have to change species, or go forward or backward in time. Would this help in fighting linearity?
Yes because then it isn't cas-caus- causeal - causal Yes this is our question, how to fight the dramatic narrative arcs.
Nina:
There is something called Everybody's toolbox - it's not a company, it's more of a platform. I hope ifs working for a white it was down or not really working but it is an open source sharing space for scores and ways of working. They have games you can play. Different scores. What I was inspired by, when I was there looking, is that they have self interview as a way of m if you want to think something through. I found it inspiring as a format. They also have a game that might be useful to play.
That is statements on ................................. (a
given subject). Like statements on jokes.
Mel:
Yes, I want to play that one. Statements on jokes. Met:
I'd like to play with scores - I haven't really used them in my work. I mean in some cases we have used them to generate material but that's not the way I think about creating or performing.
There's something interesting about the drums that were happening before and the fact that no one commented on it. It makes me think of this thing you were talking about yesterday - of questioning whether something is happening by accident or if it is theatrical or not.
we talk for a while about a sound effect in Urska's show with Beton Ltd. ich Kann Nicht AnQers
The performance is actually what is happening between us and also how we structure it.
Well if you are wondering about the physical treatment
I was, yes
We are thinking that it will be about how we position ourselves in the space. Simple, basic positions.
Yes, and 1 would be interested to play with these chairs
Yes that came up before for us, of playing with chairs and It is good.
Yes and there is this thing I (Nina) mentioned to you of what I liked about the beginning of [Mel and Kelly's piece] Colony - of this moment when
the audience had to make a choice of how to enter the space around your bodies which are very close to the entrance and I think it made them maybe choose to be closer to you.
Kelly and I talked a lot about forcing the audience the make a choice - individually or collectively. I think I'm more interested in putting the onus on the audience to make choices rather than telling them what you want them to do.
Urska:
Yes in the trilogy we have a bed for the piece, which is surrounded by rugs and the audience is supposed to sit on the rugs but only for the second half of the show. But the first half there is no seating and it was important for them to be standing up, but they would want to sit. They would practically trash the place in order to sit down.
—	We talk about the set up of the Glej. Nina draws a map. —
—	there is a short conversation about the political implications of audience choices and how to move them —
But look around - it's funny that we chose to be in this side of the room. We could have easily gone over there, (we all look).
Yes, that's so interesting. Why did we do that.
If there were no seats in this room of course people will go against the wall. Which is a nice setting but it would be very hard to get people to move around then. But if they sit then we could get them to lay down which might be a nice way to be in the performance, a nice position from which to imagine.
—	we talk for a while about Gob Squad's piece Are You With Us —
Then ive speak again about our piece.
Urska:
it's interesting when I tell people about this project everyone has a really different idea of what it will be like
Mel:
it might be interesting to ask others about what they think it will be and
then use it as a source material Urska:
Also sometimes when people ask i tell them it is about nothing.
For me this "nothing" is about this air, this potentiality. But for others it is something completely different.
(pause).
After the break, we are excited about the idea of leaving the space we work in exactly as it is. We don't want to move anything. It feeis right.
Let's take some photos.
If there are things leaning against the wail then people will not lean against it i think.
Anyway, where will their focus be, it's so good. There's no point of central focus, it's great.
What if - what if Floh (the dog) has a sign around his neck that says follow me. And he leads people in and then they just spend some time following him around the space. That would be great.
there is a lot of discussion about the space
it's great because the performance can happen anywhere as it is. Like look at this hilarious tableau with the water bottle and the iron.
Also your eyes look over here, conceptually it's kind of perfect. If we perform this project in more than one place it's nice because you just perform it in each space as it is when we had rehearsals in the small stinky room or in the foyer, but we would speak about the performance it was nice because you could imagine it in the theatre, in a space that's totally different than where you are in.
(car alarm)
Maybe we should
It would be nice to have this kind of relaxed attitude about moving things. We took a photo of everything as it was so we can make this set again. But otherwise it becomes, well my focus is elsewhere. Like i cannot move things.
Well I was thinking that maybe it's too earPy to think about this. That maybe it would be better to play in an empty room. Because in a performance everything will become meaningful.
Yes, but is this a truth with a capital T
Well it is. Everything in here will just become a setting. It is another convention.
Although I don't know because if we were to learn to be with these objects in a way that doesn't give them meaning, then will they have meaning? Does the object become meaningful because it is in a performance setting or because we treat it with meaning?
well anyway this is more like a room for storage
and there is only space to hang lighting here, not in there.
the conversation turns to lighting
Yes well maybe we just will start playing and it's good that we thought through the options.
We also speak about Ars Nova, NYC. The Team, performance group.
We speak about setting up the 1st Act and then there is a question of what happens in the 2nd Act. If there is a 3rd Act.
DAY 3: 6. OCTOBER
We a/way-s start with a conversation about ivhat ive vyere thinking yesterday evening or in the tnorning. tVe start with a conversation, how i-ve enjoy working together and /joiv eas^ if seems, how it feels like vve know each other for a longer time.
Conversation begins:
Last night when I was walking home -
imagination (write this out later)
Nina:
This is a nice thing - you started this way yesterday also, with describing what you were thinking about, (write this later)
Working together, flowing ideas
Saying yes
group composition
group painting
Pig Iron - Open Canvas
Jo Chaikin
Forced Entertainment
Theatre Academy of Slovenia doesn't give any instruction on the collaborative process of creating. They teach acting - Stanislavski - So unless someone has an interest to learn these processes they won't learn it in school.
Where did we learn how to work? Why are we interested in working together in this way? How do we like to work?
Urska:
But I have learned these things intuitively, from just working and watching and seeing what is possible. Being attentive. I don't want to be an educator.
In Ljubljana we talked many times about performances we didn't like. One even asked, why are we talking about other performances and not about ours? But we are now speaking mainly about performances that we like.
Nina:
But my way of learning these things has been I guess intuitive too and then I was validated by finding that there were others that were working this way too. I mean I guess the question is why are we interested in working this way, why do we feel it is a better way of working? Or this is a question we ask in order to think about the response for those who don't understand. I guess this is a way of maybe deciding future collaborators. I mean we have a shared understanding and know the same companies and can reference the same works.
Mel:
Yes but also someone might be interested in this way of working or have an instinct to intuitively work this way but may not have exposure to certain artists or companies
What is the relationship between Inspiration, Imagination and Critique
Urska:
i love this moment in rehearsal maybe it's 4 weeks before a premier when the piece is not done
but it is in your imagination and it is better in your mind than it will actually be. It is at a point when it can be perfect or go terribly wrong.
Nina:
Yes especially when it is a run-through of a project that is not yet finished and there is a double world of the "perfect show" but aiso the being here, present, when something goes wrong. I love this. When it's possible to see both of the worlds present.
Urška:
Yes I love it when you see the performance but also the way it works.
Nina:
Yes it gives me the idea that maybe I should, if I have a run like this with early shows, maybe I will film them and then recreate that exact performance so I can get that feeling.
Urška speaks about Beton's piece, J actors tJeWse their olva sftoivs atone. The show it is so vague, and supposed to feel not like a performance but then as they perform it they "fix" it and they correct themselves more than a director would. They videotape themselves even and then watch themseives after each rehearsal and take notes and make corrections. Their text - they've like worked on it for 3 years - is a combination of some parts of novels and also of just their recorded conversations. And then they work on it for a long time.
Mel:
Can I meet them? Urška:
Yes yes of course! They're my friends! Mel:
Or maybe see a video of the performance? Urška:
Yes or I'll check to see when their show is happening in November, (checks). No! Oh - wait -when do you arrive? If s the 19. and 20. November.
Mel:
No! (buries face in hands} oh no! No! I arrive the 21st. That's terrible. That's terrible. Ok. Well maybe they'll let me see a video of the performance or we can at least talk. I'd like to talk with them about their work.
Ah well let's watch the video! five watch the new video on our Turnblr HELPING H ANO) ifs so good.
Ah, there's also a draft (we watch the new video draft) We vvatc/i and comment a video of a rehearsal form Ljubljana from June. It's great. It's like this perfect document of the process of trying to search and failing. Because it's just this fragment and the video gives it a specific framing.
But it could be interesting again - it was a failure in this context of the exercise but then maybe it becomes useful. As a stupid way out. If you drift, like you talk about something and it just goes beyond but then you use this to go somewhere else. Use it as a stupid way out. So what do we want to do? Do we want to start learning from the video material?
Transcribing video - movement score. Then transcribing Wdeo — a fragment of text. We spend a long tirne learning and recreating the eJract movements, Urška plays Urška, Nina plays Nina and Alei plays Maruša, and ive /magine Nejc. It ivas a (est ro see if it Lvas interesting. Ife learned it ivas not.
Let's Try This:
Ah ok, this will be a performance, and you would be the audience standing there. But we assume, well we would imagine for the actual thing there would be more of you How many do we want? 200 will be good well, 500 Even 20 is good Or we could have just one person and have a very intimate atmosphere Yeah, that would be nice Where should we place them? The audience? Yeah
We try it in the space and videotape it. (we watch).
When It feels the worst that's actually when it's the most interesting, the best.
Questions are good — they make it go somewhere.
But It's actually reaNy good when It doesn't go really anywhere. Yes, it's about nothing.
Yes and actually it's like we were talking about the first day - about how hard it is to really imagine, that there is an impossibility to it.
DAY 4; 7. OCTOBER
NejcE
Nejc was this morning thinking about the diversity of Berlin.
We watch the videos with Nejc.
Of the Improvisation from Glej
which he hasn't seen.
Then of our recreations of it.
And we explain they don't work. And why.
There needs
■j
The idea of architects. We are stuck again. What to do when stuck. Film more!
Play — exchange - one at the time in a circle. When you have to do it. Not when you want to do it.
I am interested in playing with 'fail'. But it is so uncomfortable, when you are in the middle of it. But when you watch is good. I would be interested in making/trying when we really 'play lost'. We don't know. We pose questions. But there is no answer. Can we do a video just asking questions, not knowing the answer?
If we all imagine, maybe the
audience takes the 4th turn.
They can pose questions only now and then.
Awkwardness is ok. Generally is nice when nothing is happening. Stop. Silence. The point is not performing. Improv - the attitude is important. It feeis as architects meeting. Silence. Thinking. It is nice.
A good question - what did we like in the performance, just to identify what is the language to play with.
Urska:
Ifs good to watch again with fresh eyes Nejc:
Some strategies were very interesting.
I didn't have a problem with being bored.
Ifs a show that's getting together
And then the things which were
performative were putting me off.
imagine that we speak perfect German.
We give you a starting position
and then you do the rest.
That was very interesting.
And then silence. And you leave the
space - for them to imagine it.
But I also found it really interesting when
I was just listening, not watching you
and just watching the empty space.
But just maybe, to try it out, to film this
and then to play the audio. I found it
thrilling to just look at the empty space.
Or yeah I was looking at the space on
the screen and then turning to the
empty space and seeing it there.
Yesterday I was telling Nina that I was
imagining just having the audio, maybe into
microphones or maybe we don't need the
microphones, we could also just put ourselves
into the audience. Be with the audience.
If I'm only to hear the audio then it's a performance, ifs a radio play. But I don't know if I have the bodies in space then its p. -
Urska:
The interesting thing for me is describing the imagined space but ifs actually the thing that they are doing
Mel:
Yeah something I did in the improv that didn't work for me was the imagining something that was more fantastical, it becomes about that.
Nina:
Might be nice to pull people in by describing the space. As it really is and then making small adjustments. I wouldn't want to limit. I think we can just decide about where it happens.
ifs good when we talk about the audience
Nina:
And potential Nejc:
Playing with the words Can I, would I Mel:
Are there other things that were good that we can use to establish an improvisation language?
Urska:
Yeah, good when we talk about the audience, we re-establish that there is an audience
Talking about the audience
Trying that someone is an audience member
Let's try 3 are always present onstage
We talked about people feeling left
out, then compositionally leaving
one. (but it slowly happened)
When something has been established,
letting it go, but then returning to the
image, reminding yourself later
Questions - where should the audience
be, how many of us are there
Shifting in space - but has to be really subtle. One
person leaving, one going to the back - accidental
Sure - Schon
The details
The layer of talking to ourselves versus talking to the audience - like we took a little break Launching a proposal that you take it on for a moment, don't fully execute it (speaking more loudly, placing Barbara in the back)
I have a question about the possible duration of this "how do we start" We were talking the other day about the possibility of following theatrical convention - do we have an act 1, an act 2, act 3. Is this act 1? Mow long can it be sustained? In this improvisation it felt like it ended at the exact right moment.
Act 2 —
Let's look at the score
Ah ok, so ifs the interruption
Act 2 is about establishing the connection
between the audience and performer
Yes it would be good to not do everything at once. To do improvisations based on different themes like one about the interaction and one about atmosphere and music. Because
we need to practice the act of improvising (Nina sets up camera.}
(Jrska is performing the audience. Nejc, Mel, Nina are improvising together as a trio.
So we were talking about how we felt about our improvisation.
I don't know how it was from the outside but I was quite happy that we were reflecting on the interruption from the real world and I found it quite inspiring and was trying to play around that a little bit. And I'm not sure how successful we were at building an image, but I thought it was quite interesting to try to imagine it again, not just repeating but developing it. It was a situation that was offering something really real, what is it they're doing.
The first thing was that we were asking Urska if she is cold and offering her a coat, and then we were interrupted by these guys.
The last part was the most playful because we were playing together.
Yes and we had proposed something that made us feel a specific way and we could imagine how we would behave based on those feelings
Yes and once we got a circumstance that was common to all of us then we had a strategy.
I think that the most interesting it got was in the end because you were building something with me but really without me. You were giving me triggers [for my imagination]. Interestingly the more you build a scene or try to build a story the less interesting it got for me. The less there is the more interesting. When you started to use this "we could imagine" it's like yes, thank you.
Well how many details are needed for it to be enough but also not too many.
Well it's a game.
(we watch).
Ah Melissa, it is what you said about skipping the first impulse, you have to instead think about the second impulse.
Like if instead of you saying "We apologize" you had said "imagine we apologize to you"
Can we make a rule?
Yes! A rule! Let's do it!
That the person who is on the outside reminds those on the inside that they should stay in the realm of possibilities. There are no facts! There is no I.
But imagine it doesn't stop
D4V5; JO. OCTOBER
Nina:
I had some thoughts on how to approach working from now on That we should separate the work on the text from the improvisations Because it is hard to be working in the moment on the right way to construct Each sentence correctly while trying to figure out the Internal structure.
Say something Add something
There is a group of people. There is a group of people feeling very uncomfortable. There is a group of people feeling very uncomfortable and asking themselves where they should stand.
Or I was thinking that this could be a beginning - to establish a group of people first and then to separate them as were doing in the other "beginning" work.
I was thinking it would be great to script some of these sentences
(watch Friday video).
Transcribing the irnprov an<] commenting it. Mel:
So we can imagine it's Friday. It's 11:30. Wait how do you say this? 23 hours?
Nejc: No 11:30.
But instead of trying to describe a club it's better just to describe the setting
And the details.
if s nice when there is a a repetition. It helps to lead people through.
Urska:
What kind of music is playing?
Nejc: Jazz
Mel: Jazz?!
Yes but this doesn't realiy work, if s too specifically located.
Urska:
Right because now there needs to be a story. Something needs to happen in this space.
If s not a good question of "How do we want the people to feel? How they feel?"
it is a good question of "how do they feel?"
"they are fult" feels more successful than "German sausage"
Right because they can imagine what they ate.
"You could imagine that someone roils a Joint and passes it around"
[iong pause]
For the future a good piece of text is "where were we?"
We don't want to pressure them. But it will be good if they all did it.
This is a nice way of forcing them. It's not like we are forcing them but "It will be good if they all do it"
"It could be that the audience is not actually coming to see a play at all"
About audience leaving - it could be nice to play with this.
A controversial scene happens so 20 people leave There would be music that will make people leave so 50 people leave
we imagine a group of people.
We can speak about the space, and the space.
Ah no, the group of people! The people. How the connection is with the group of people.
[Nothing happens. Long pause. Almost 40 seconds of pause]
Mel:
Ok, so, we're, we are - all of us though, not just us, all of us - are a group of people. And...
Nina:
Yeah, let's imagine a group of people
Mel: Yeah.
Nejc:
A group of people
Mel: Yeah.
Nina:
Yeah let's imagine a group of people that feei really good. On the inside. [They feel like they can't stand still].
Yeah, that's enough.	™
But between everyone, there is a kind of tension, [pause].
Let's just imagine a group of people in a room. And we imagine there is an awkward silence.
Ok, but this doesn't work to actually describe the silence.
I'm not sure about this joint situation. It's like a 16-year-old joke.
Ok so we drop the joint.
But we just offer the feeling to relax and then some people will think of that maybe.
Ok, this group of people is moving. They are relaxed but there is a bit of tension.
It is silent, (silence).
Ok, so let's say - so let's start with
And a guy just starts laughing loudly.
Ifs a guy?
He... she... it's a person.
And then it gets even more silent. The silence is very long and very quiet.
The silence for me here works. Because ifs fictive. It makes the scene work because it is tense. There is a tension. So it works to mention that there is silence and then to go on talking.
Ok so there is this group of people that move toward the center of the space.
How many?
Like 15.
Ohf so how many are left?
None of them, they have all moved. They all moved to the center of the space. And they are walking very closely together. They are very close together. So close that there is breath on the back of our necks. They can feel the breath of the person standing behind them.
There is still the awkward silence.
1
<N
™ Is the person still laughing? Yes.
Ah, so the laughing happens in bursts. Loud laughing, total silence, burst of daughter, very loud, long period of silence, more laughter, very awkward, very unpredictable -
(short silence)
Can you talk about the tension between the people?
There could be one guy. Going from the back. In, in my direction.
MeP:
Ifs a guy? Nejc:
Yes. This one is a guy. He's got a penis, he's naked. And he's moving toward me.
MeE:
Can we look at it the penis I mean? Nejc:
Yeah, I think. That's why he's naked. He wants his penis to be seen. And he's got just this "This is it" in his eyes, tike, tike a straight direction. He's knows what he wants. And his goes towards the guy.
Nina:
So if he's naked now, then let's imagine we are alt naked. So we're all naked.
Mel:
We're all naked now? Ok, sure, (pause) Nina:
And there is a great tension between us. Mel:
Is it still really hot? Nina:
Yeah, it's stilt really hot. Met:
Ok so Is nudity also a 16-year-old joke? Urska:
No. Nudity is always relevant. I mean I hate it in performance art that there has to be nudity. But on the other hand there is this Slovenian director he always has naked people on a performance stage because you always have to remind people that the right to be naked on a stage is a right that we had to fight for and it can betaken away. It is a sign of... yeah, it is, there is a social responsibility to be naked onstage.
MeE:
Oh great. Nina + Met:
Ok so we're all naked. And tension, ifs very hot Nejc:
The tension is hot. MeE:
What kind of tension is it? Is it an aggressive tension, or a sexual tension, or more like a tension of not knowing what's going to happen next?
Nejc:
1 think it's the last one. Mel:
Not knowing what will happen next. But something is going to happen.
Nejc:
But anxiety tension. Not really anxiety but anticipation.
Met: Yeah.
(Pause. Drums. Someone is rehearsing.) - this feeis good the introduction of some kind of music.
Sure. Schon.
Nina:
There is a slight difference if we say that we are creating a performance, there is a way It could become like a Castellucci piece. But I think It would be nice if at the end they are questioning is this one? One potential performance or many?
Urska:
But if there is also a layer of the commenting. You could also ask - "was this guy a performer?"
Mei:
Yes, well is he? The naked guy. Is he a performer? Urska:
We won't be sad if we have to kill our darlings. Right?
DAY 6:11. OCTOBER
tVe start with Mel telling us she mei a friend the prefiot/s night and all the questions this friencf ha0 about our project. The usual questions, vvhatis the message etc.
This is the question that every project asks, and it is the thing we are interested in avoided asking.
We don't have the objective of making a product. We don't have to give in to these kinds of capitalist ways of thinking. We have the space to experiment and question and of course fail if necessary.
I find the question of what is the message Is not such an interesting question. I'm not interested in too quickly falling Into these traps of production.
Yes and also I am curious about how this becomes, though, because it will be a performance - it Is a presentation of ideas, of fragments, but this is performed, right? Not just a script, for example.
But we can question what is the
form, what can it be.
For example it would be interesting,
perhaps, if there is a part of the performance
when we just discuss these questions
about it if it is a performance
What was the question you formed?
Asking these questions is not a potentiality, but answering it is - in our kind of ways. The potentiality of answers to the usual questions. The potentiality is about not giving a definite answer. Just a glimpse. Potentiality is the means. The imaginary thing is the performance. There we talk about what makes a performance: audience and performers.
And of course - because when you are choosing to answer, form a perspective, assert a direction, choose a distinct departure point - there is a narrowing of possibility. So by not determining a set point of departure, the potentialities are left open.
It has to be - to a point - vague.
I think the question is not how to convey the message, but slightly different, which is
If we deliberately make the performance - the way we were doing in rehearsal - and then you stop it. You deliberately show the mistakes.
I've had this idea for years now that you would just guide through the performance - maybe you perform some parts, but also you are explaining. Performing Process. I had this idea when once one of the performers was sick and we had to cancel - and i thought well, you could just perform a description of the performance.
<audio recording?-
it reminds me of... it makes me think of...
Maybe we can play with these lists a little bit. To make some text. Whenever I hear this, word text, t think of this performance by ¡a Negativa- Give me the text!
<audio recordingx. <it didn't record:*.
see it's already happening.
But we already have the answer to this question. The performance is a performance and the way we are doing it is the potential. We make it by just asking the questions. WHAT MAKES A PERFORMANCE.
[Via Negativa] has a topic or a general idea, and then they work individually and then they meet up and work more conceptually
Mel:
Let's try this - I'm just curious.
Herzlich willkommen zur Potential Performance, wir sind Melissa Krodman, Eva Nina Lampic, Urska Brodar und Nejc Cijan Garlatti. Schalten Sie bitte Ihre Handys aus, das Fotografieren und Aufnehmen der Performance ist nicht erlaubt.
Wie Sie sehen können, ist dieser Raum Irgendwie unfinished, und in dieser Performance werden wir Sie bitten sich Oinge vorzustellen. Zum Beispiel, ich rede kein Deutsch, also werde ich ab hier Englisch sprechen, aber Sie können sich vorstellen, dass ich weiterhin Deutsch mit Ihnen rede.
I started to feel that maybe the theatrical convention to pay attention to is just timing. That if we can get the rhythm to feel right then it can be about anything it will feel correct.
Yeah, I had the feeling that when we get in synch with the one thing that we're creating that then it's good.
Yes, when we're all paying attention and relax into it.
I have this impression that if I was someone who was watching from the outside I would be watching three people trying to figure out...
Yes well it's figure out but also explaining at the same time. Like architects that are in a room talking about what can be possible.
lVe vvere improvising on s/tence, nucf/ty and tension.
We decided on 3 principles:
1.	The Vague Principle
2.	The Intervention Principle
3.	The Inverted Sock Principle
DAY 7: 12. OCTOBEQ
We start with watching the video by orced
Entertainment: How we work. Really inspiring. We realized it is useful for us to start with watching videos. It is hard to start working creatively in the morning. We watch Pollesch. Our page.
No Face Performance Group. The Top - show where they found 'it' very quickly - and there was only this simple thing that worked. And they produced too much material. Tiny bounce.
Forced Entertainment's last piece - Real Magic. Also very minimal. And repetitive.
Video: We watch video from the previous day.
Urska:
Watching this just now and thinking about Forced Entertainment, I was thinking well we could just do this exactly but be naked from the waist down.
Nina:
And while I'm listening I'm thinking that we should try to fill the silence, keep talking - for example if we have nothing to say we can repeat what has come from the other proposal
Mel:
And also have some filler, maybe. Not adding new information but
Nina:
Keeping the idea in the air Mel:
Yeah I'd like to try a version where we have the pants down, yeah - but that also we don't have to have them down the whole time, we can play with putting them on and taking them off.
Urska:
Yeah, It changes it.
The situation has to be more clear. We lose the image when we're not being clear about the
group of people. We have to keep mentioning it. Mel:
We are playing it very insularly without an audience. I think we need to be more direct and fast-paced. Keep the game up.
Urska:
Yeah and maybe it would be different if you were talking to one another but addressing the audience, turning outward.
Who are we addressing?
Mel;
Right now it's a game we're playing for ourselves and not for the audience. If we had to perform this tomorrow or the next day - going back to our conversation from earlier - I'd say that the most simple and interesting thing continues to be the beginnings, the act of beginnings. So I think we should do an improvisation where we play with just starting and restarting and using the furniture, and the question of the audience, the question of tension. The beginnings are what we keep coming back to. And i think we can try guiding the audience through it instead of just talking about it.
<improvisation>
We start improvising one by
one from this point on.
-	Nina's beginning to her1rt improv - started with such indecisiveness (audience numbers and where we should sit) effectively annoying us. Became really effecting -you let this feeling emerge and then you commented on it later. The text when the audience is
in the U is really, really good.
-	Mel undressing while talking about the long pause when nothing is really happening. Something is happening, and nothing is really happening.
-	Nina's 2nd improv - water bottle interruption beginning is great, the fact about yourself (divorce). Perfect balance of embarrassment and confidence
-	The action (taking off clothes, etc.) is great when it is an interruption/gesture that doesn't
go anywhere. Happens and erases.
-	Like the introduction of saying it is a work in progress
-	Returned to reminding people about the performance,
it comes back
-	Generally like the tour through the show idea
Questions/Other comments
-	How much of a pause in between taking off and putting on clothes.
-	Does each person do it? Does it accumulate (all 3 doing it together) without it going anywhere?
-	I feel engaged and interested and also there's a moment when I wonder what being taken through all of these beginnings. It's good when we comment on the theatrical conventions.
o Valuing the question of where you will end up with no possibility of knowing
-	We can try to find a possibility of where it might go, or we can try to keep the energy of the beginning
We talked about whether we should improvise with 2 or 3 people at a time. I think it's good we came to T person at a time.
Mel:
Improvisation suggestion for tomorrow: 4 people in playing space "in audience" - take turns going around/proposing. Invite people to help you with your idea on the spot, but one person is the leader of the idea. Can use one (self), 2, 3, 4, none.
DAY 8:13. OCTOBER
Simplest kernel.
<watching> Mel improv 1:
like the beginning, waiting in the chair tone of figuring it out versus tone of knowing — think we want the knowing tone mentioning something will happen (there is a technical difficulty) - then this happens but the tone is accidental. Decisiveness of action is good -Can feel the moments of figuring
it out - it doesn't want that.
"The piece doesn't begin with any spectacle, in fact it's a pretty ordinary beginning. So instead of things feeling underwhelming after such a long, awkward pause at the start..."
ending with "should we stop?" - switch people
Urska:
Watching it it feels like there's a lot of empty space, but I didn't feel that as an audience member, I found it quite interesting and funny.
Incorporating details into new starts - found that really interesting Ok, but - ok ok I get it, and then what happens then, what happens then. Found it really interesting when there was a technical issue
I like that somethings are summarized, some things are summarized and changed - like the way the German speech is treated. Like that you mention the same speech but then the third time you skip the seating - go to the window. It can derail into details that don't have to do with a narrative
It should have begun, it's been 7 minutes. It's just 7 minutes but we've done it twice - so both the imagined and the real space are arrived.
Speaking about the silence, awkward, nothing happening but taking off tights and shoes. Nothing is happening but I'm starting to undress. Question of how much at the beginning. Keeping two pictures in your mind. Really Like the dichotomy.
Ifs really good when everything is potential. The audience, the start, the play. There's a 120 of the audience and there's only 2 of them. Some of them feel like this, some of them feel like that. Not everyone in [the actual] audience feels the same way. Liked when i (Nina) was asked to be the people standing because there's not enough space. Always feels great to hear there will be more of you.
Imagining the feeling of having more people changes the way you feel even though nothing has changed in physical reality - this feels like a good thing to have
our audience bring their attention to.
Two seats are empty - even while there are only two here - that worked.
Like the feeling of being in the process of the show. Something that will be bigger, different. Like you came to the rehearsals. Not a finished product.
Nina's:
It's not usual that you just (snap) appear.
Do you remember what it looked
like on the outside?
The struggle Is so good.
I'm a performer (as if convincing herself)
The space is completely empty - nice because
half of the room is empty and half is not. Long
pause (good now because I know what is coming).
Like Urska interrupting to ask about if we are also
not there - maybe and then we just appear...
We've moved past the audience numbers - feels
like now we are in audience relationship.
Maybe the mention of duration is good.
Where would you like to sit, maybe here, {this
is good semblance of giving an option).
Ok, this is the beginning.
We are aware that the beginning is really
good. Because you don't want to lose people.
If you have a good start you can really
You are aware that you don't want your
audience to feel like that, i am aware
of the pressure of really wanting the
beginning of this performance to work.
The performance will start. Any minute.
Do you have any questions before we start?
"ok stop"
It feels like the next progression - as the 2rd start.
I've also been thinking about that - the generalities and specifics of the audience. Commenting on how the imaginary person feels
Can we ask questions? How are you feeling? I don't think so. We want to manipulate them - it's a good way to engage them and ignore them at once. We are seeking the quality of making people feel that they have the choice
Urska:
I guess we imagined.
Close your eyes - open your eyes
It would also be really nice if at this moment
of the performance the performers would show up right. Right?
The third could go somewhere new, or else the third could with strictness 1, 2,3 or 1, 2,123
Mel improvisation 2: J can't get next to you babe Repetition of the walking through the first moment of the performance -Like the mention of music - could play a little moment, hear it, or say something that everyone / some people will know. We're coming up on the second chorus and... I question the amount of time given to imagine something - like the pillar.
Yeah I question that - I think we can give it a lot of space sometimes and not a ton of space every time.
I like the mention of the other space that it will happen in.
Embedding the performance in the other space.
Yeah and it's the most complete and sincere one tin brackets].
Do we potentially imagine something do we manipulate the past space or only the future? For me it's better to focus on imagining the future. In Glej it's going to be like that and that and that and that.
WILL
I felt really invited when you introduce yourself
3 options of how it starts We feel blocked at 3.
The topics advance while we also reset/build:
Good to hear the description of what the song is about/maybe some lyrics.
Nina 2:
Wait a second, I just need a sip of water. Maybe just a few words about me. I'm Nina, I'm 31, I'm recently divorced. But maybe, yea, maybe that's too personal. I was going to say something about myself but maybe
this is, yeah, maybe ifs too personal.
Really good to be taking off the clothing.
-	nice that it happened a little bit before and now it's happening more but that
it will never turn into a fruition.
Talking about nostalgia, and then aggressive
-	more direct and to the point, in your face. People alone versus more. Like that she added performers. This could also be elaborated on. Introduce ourselves a little bit, establish a connection. So people feel close to each other.
Putting back on clothes is wonderful too
-	but maybe want it to feet connected to other text. We've already been through silence/pause and tension. But the duration is really good.
Have a question about people leaving
-	think we don't want to imagine our imagined audience leaving or being dissatisfied. It releases tension also
We should try just to see but it feels nice to just have 1 person.
Conceptually it's great to be hearing about/imagining 3 people
Urska 2:
It might also be great if you can't express yourself in English to express it in Slovene or in German.
The abrupt stopping/long, long pause. And then decisively back into it. I really liked that the very first thing after mine was that you take off your sweater.
It's good when it's one person because it's communicating from performer to audience and also it's communicating in succession.
Yeah, and this one lone person in an empty room - it justifies the form of having to talk through it. That on my own I can't do it. And with three people you're paying attention to another kind of a rhythm
The desire and the potential for more - for 3 - for 6, but that we never let it arrive.
Neje:
Should we make the duration shorter however?
Urska:
Yeah, maybe we can keep it to 7 minutes because that way you don't have to feel the pressure to have so many ideas
Mel:
Yes but I would argue that for the purposes of generating we want to go for as long as feels right for the improvisation since sometimes when you run out of ideas it's good - you push past the ideas you know. Then you have to deal with finding new material and it can be quite good for generating.
Nina:
The task is that you are a guide and you're keeping the energy up because we realized that when it was us three doing the exercise we were like (snore).
<watching>
Nina:
Hello, hi, thank you for coming. You've seen me before so hi - it's nice to be back.
I speak some German I speak some
Urska:
H-wouldbetheTtght thing-to-de to-speak German in Germany. It feels respectful.
3:30 start - 5:25 end
"I was thinking you could imagine that I'm speaking in German to you. So from now on I will be speaking English but I will be speaking slower so that you can imagine I speak to you in German. Ok so, just to try how this works 1 say "hello welcome. It's really great that you came tonight. So I'm speaking German right? I hope that you really enjoy the show. It's only me..." (keep going)
It works because you repeat what you've said before And because you keep going slow so I can imagine that
WORK-YES NO WORK - NO
Describing in detail details of look/
feel for what will be
"That will come later" (pigeon)
Just do it
Establish
Just say it
"we talked about this"
There would be three people performing. I
won't be alone as a performer onstage
There will be more of us.
Before we start
What to say when done with your section or taking over That's it for now That's how we would start That would be good Mmm Hmmm Yeah Something like that This could be it Yeah maybe
Uh huh ok yep sure (schon)
Play with transitions This could be a beginning
[Short lists of 15 suggestions. Tension. Audience. Relaxing]
[We are not writers. We are not performers]
COMMENT
-	how many people we have
-	being put in a position
-	there are more people
-	you are part of something that is going to be different
-	rehearsal and not a performance
-	guiding
-	good - decisive
Stammtisch Tomorrow:
Watch videos/see what we Itke
Play with furniture in the space - two on, one out/one on two out. Open improvisation with all of the material we have - Focus on Beginnings, focus on guiding audience
How We Work - Forced Entertainment -potential performance of this video
List out possible imagined structures Pants off/Pants on
Maybe part of the game is that we have to go faster and be more decisive
ÙAY 9:14. OCTOBER
We discussed music. Annie Lenox.
Decided on order of appearance and topics of each part:
1.	Mel: intro
2.	Nina: intro & language
3.	Mel: audience
4.	Urska: intro & space & music
5.	Nina: music & last performance
6.	Urska: end
Open rehearsal with Floh, 0any'an,
Fabian, Nassim, Shirin, Nejc.
Talkback afterwards:
theatre vs. fiction
waiting for Godot vs. waiting for
a performance to happen
non-performative vs. performative
the story of the last experimental
performance, is it true or not? good
it can go really wild, because it's imaginary,
is it a path that we want to take or not?
performance energy
do we agree on performance or not? each performer can have their own version we don't disagree, but we could disagree it would be nice, if the contradictions are not too clear
not contradiction, but hijacking of ideas why three people, why not one? play more among ourselves, contradict, support, develop the test audience was not bored, it could last longer
how to explain possibilities we touched, more
audience participation: yes or no?
loud or only in the imagination?
duplicating the performance
playing with the reality - changing the reality
time: I wouldn't mind more silence
go fast but make more pauses
we need to imagine, what we describe
we need to trust that people are
working (in their minds)
if it works really well, it is a
travel in time and space
possibly politically strong: limiting our
imagination, censuring ourselves
In Iran nudity can't happen - imagine that
we're in Iran and I take my clothes off
how to include political statements?
duplication: even say, none of us
will be perofrming (instead of me,
there will be George Clooney) mission is to duplicate everything ending: just put the camera off / so that's it need to share the idea, concept, people will buy it, once you hide it, it becomes the focus
DAY 10: 16. OCTOBER
Nejc gives feedback.
We discuss the feedback and what to do neJrf.
People weren't bored.
Imagine as a performer, don't just
do the to-do-check-list
Language questions.
Detailing the last performance.
1st level details, 2nd level details.
Create and stay, or, create and dismiss.
Re-appearing of somethings.
George Ctooney too fictional, too far-fetched.
Who are the fictional performers.
Damjan was annoyed by the Annie Lennox
description, imagined lights in Glej.
Clarify the game, play more.
3 people talking about the same performance?
We should all talk about everything,
just vary the scale of detail.
Add another space from Philly. Possibility.
Û4V11: 17. OCTOBER
We vvere Weiching the video of Open rehearsal and adjusting the text. What worked and what didn't. Scripting the text. Paying attention to language! What we can and can't say in order to keep the imagination alive. Questions around how to treat the audience, seating. Political vs. propagandist. It has to be dear. It doesn't have to be true. How to present the fictional performers. Things are as you see them. If you see them differently, they are different. And that is the whole point of political.
DAY 12:7S. OCTOBER
Different space than Glej improv. We chose: TheTigermen Den in New Orleans. Description (house, outside, inside, pillars, windows, music, funny accent...) We decide against it. How to speak about audience diversity without saying it? Who is the audience?
Improv about performers:
I can be anyone.
People, who look like me.
People, who look different than me.
Body language.
D4V 75:79. OCTOBER
We decide to start with space. Structure space part for Urska.
Text.
Nina, structure. Mel, structure.
Text.
Improv about the concept. Doesn't work. We drop it.
04V" 14: 20. OCTOBER
Structuring the text of each part in detail. Succesion of parts in each sequence. Urska (intro, space, audience...), Mel (intro, restarting, audience, performers...), Nina (intro, 0 language, restart, audience, performers...).
DAY 75; 21 OCTOBER
Run-through and work on details. Urska decides she will mention the talk-back in her Introduction, the real situation, beer, we will ask you to imagine things. Talk about things the audience should know before we start the show.
DAY 76:22. OCTOBER
Rehearsal: we decide to talk about OUR SHOW.
Cvening: Open work-in-progress showing 7. Talk-back becomes a part of the performance.
DAY 17:23. OCTOBER
Cvening: Open work-in-progress showing 2 + talk-back.
D4V18:25. OCTOBER
Nejc:
I thought the first performance went much better there was just a very different type of energy. I think it had to do with that lady coming in. After that the whole environment went bah!I like until then they didn't know how to interpret what was happening and after then the environment.
Dani:
Yeah the second show the audience had a harder time figuring out how to place themselves, with their chairs and everything.
Urska:
yeah I think the whole thing starts when the audience first comes in. Chatting with them, getting the feeling of the night. It was a coincidence that they came one by one and we had time to really greet everyone separately. We were in the back room. I mean, this is what we were discussing with how important it is to let the audience decide where they set themselves.
Nina:
But I think that we could have been better about responding to what the audience needs
Nejc:
Yes but are we directing the audience or are we letting them on their own. There needs to be a little more listening from the performers. To keep our mind set on this.
Mel:
I think it would be really helpful to bring audiences in to have showings like we did on the friday just to be able to get used to this. So that we can learn about our tactics for being with the audience.
Nejc:
I thought it was really great on Saturday when JJ brought up that there were actors there, that weren't performing, I thought this was really great, it was a bit of potentiality it was better that way than when it was brought up in the actual performance by a performer.
Dani:
On Saturday night it was really nice for me when Marusa and Nejc were sitting next to each other in the audience.
...discussion... Slovene
How to communicate this tact, its really tricky. You know, i mean. How is this fact presented/1 think it is really strong but also really tricky.
Urika:
it feels like its important to have this brought up during the talkback
Dani:
It feels like these two facts/the performers and also why it was the East show these things seem realty connected.
Nina:
But that is what is nice about the talk-back that there is a sharing and then people can reflect from another persons' perspective
Nejc:
it was hilarious for me that JJ was talking about wanting to dissolve the performance but meanwhile he was noting that he was trapped inside of this performance. That it was being filmed, that he was ah he was he was trapped on a wheel
It is a loop
Dani:
if it is an endless loop then it solves this question of the atmosphere is already addressed. I learned this watching the performance really. I didn't know it before I was more in the box of the one hour theatre
...keeping it light... keeping it neutral... light... its not a heavy important thing were doing which was the atmosphere on Saturday night it was so light.
Nejc:
but yes but its always in relation to the audience too. How to engage them. Is there a safe way to step out of the frame and get the audience back On Sunday the audience was distracted and
Ivo Dimchev
For our show... I mean for our show which is happening right now
Frljic's show called My Violence Your Violence
there is a talk-back in the middle of the show and they will accept 3 questions and they give 3 fixed answers that basically remind the audience it is a fiction. Do we have to prepare for the tatk-back/ think about how we will respond?
Its so nice because when there's a party this show never ends. This show becomes like a projection of something that is the way that a person thinks. Do we need to do something in the show to make the audience have to start addressing what their own thoughts are?
Mel:
I wonder if there's a way to have an imagined talk-back before the real talk back to launch some spaces for the audience to reflect on their perspectives and biases.
Nejc:
I think it's all about creating these loops. I thought it was good when Julia was saying that she had biases, she was saying something about space.
Nina:
yeah, there is a question about if we want to be consistent or want to have these purposeful differences
Nejc:
But for me what I want is something that is consistent for both spaces
Mel:
A lynch pin. For me this is the audience/ so maybe we need to be more explicit that we see this audience as being the audience in each of these spaces
Urska:
I had some thoughts about that I thought we wouldn't say this is a work in progress but say what it is, that it's the work in progress night and that we try to make this duplication on a smarter level, not in reverse Maybe if we do it at the Glej it comes out that It seems the Glej is fictional we say the Glej the Glej so often that it becomes a reality. I would play with describing another space and still calling it the Glej
Nina:
What you're doing with that you're inventing a parallel time and you invent a parallel space.
A potent^!
Urska:
this confusion, ! like
1 also like that we play with the real space, that the Ballhaus... that we made this performance out of a real situation
Met:
t mean they did cancel our opening night performance for 6,000 Euro
Dank
In a performance that is imaginative you have to be aware of the things that are present
per- forrn^S^
What is theatre? Audience. Being honest.
What are our ideas about the space.
Production meeting/Funch with Tina and Daniel from BallhausOst.
DAY 20: 27: October
watching and discussing Sunday showing & talk-back
<N tn
Urska:
We remembered where it could be, the old Glej theatre
Mei:
Come on. Are you fucking kidding me. Nina:
Ifs these lucky coincidences and also accepting the reality.
Dani:
I really like this Borges kind of theatre // playing with the future on the fundamental of the past
do not wait for the show to start, this is already the show
IF YOU'RE OK WITH ANYTHING, EVERYTHING IS FINE
George Perec: obsession of describing and making lists
We decide to transcribe the Saturday showing for the text!
Treating the imagination as another imagined space?
Idea: performance should continue after the talk-back. We prepare for the meeting with Daniel and Tina from Balihaus Ost.
DAY 19:26. OCTOBER
Watching the video from the Saturday showing and talk-back, analyzing it.
Urska Prep Talk for Tina and Daniel
DUPLICATION is the tool we use, be dear about the implication
the potential performance is always a work in progress, not something consumptive, never a finished piece, it always has a talk-back (people talking to each other, exchanging views), and it goes on like this
each person in the audience notices a different thing, and is not aware of something else
We are developing the method, a language.
Asking questions and answering them in this
performative setting.
What is the performance?
What do you need?
Basic questions.
When do theatre start/end?
How theatre blends with the reality?
DAY21:23. October
We're making plans for rehearsal period in Ljubljana.
Impart is building the language, atmosphere
2nd part is discussion
3rd part? More options, Nejc goes.
LIST OF PEFORMANCES SEEN IN BERLIN
Oliver Frljic: Unsere Gewalt, Eure Gevva/t (HAU 1)
Dieter Rita Scholl: Kabaret (Wilde Oscar)
Turbo Pascal: Selbstbeschtyichtigung (Sophiensaele)
Marta Görnicka: M(other) Courage (Maxim Gorki Theater)
Lola Arias & Ensemble: Atlas Oes Kommunismus (Maxim Gorki Theater)
She She Pop: 50 Grades of Shame (HAU 1)
Tafking Straight: Security (Maxim Gorki Theater)
Adel Abdel Wahab: Music for Unstageable Theater (The Silent Green)
:objective:spectacfe: Clap. (Ballhaus Ost)
Rene Poliesch: I love you, but I've chosen entdramatisierung (Volksbühne) apparatus: Magical. Acts. Matter (Sophiensaele) Toshiki Okada: Time's Journey Through a Room (HAU 3)
r ■

Gledališče Glej
Gregorčičeva 3 1000 Ljubljana
www.glej.si
Rezervacija vstopnic: rezervacije (Si glej. si
Nakup možen tudi na www.mojekarte.si
Predsednica društva, producentka in koordinatorka programov: Inga Remeta Umetniški vodja: Marko Bratuš Producentki: Barbara Poček in Anja Pirnat Odnosi z javnostmi: Jure Novak Urednica Glej, Lista!: Urška Brodar Vodja tehnike: Grega Mohorčič Tehnična podpora: Borut Bučinel, Martin Lovšin
Glej,
POTENCIALNA PREDSTAVA/A POTENTIAL PERFORMANCE Glej, list!
Letnik 8, št. 3, december 2016 Urednica: Urška Brodar
Oblikovanje in prelom: Grupa Ee / Mina Fina - Ivian K. M. - D. Nič /
izdajatelj: Gledališče Glej Tisk: Stane Peklaj s. p. Naklada: 300 ISSN 1855-6248
Podpirajo nas: Ministrstvo za kulturo RS, Mestna občina Ljubljana, GOOJA iT, Interaktivni mediji, d. o. o., TAM-TAM d. o. o., Društvo za promocijo glasbe, Super Catering, igra I2R d. o. o.
REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJA	p^J Mestna «*Sna
MINISTRSTVO ZA KULTURO	KM Ljubljana
re z ¡den tki/res id e nt s
Eva Nina Lampič
Urška Brodar
A MANIFESTO
29. October 2016, Klub Ùer Polnischen Versager
1.	Don't be afraid of keeping it simple.
2.	Don't do the same thing for longer then 20 minutes. Unless you make a durational piece.
Then, don't do anything else.
5. Don't get trapped in your own fascination with technological invention.
4.	Don'toverabuseyou nat i o n ' s re sou rc e of h i sto ri ca I o r po t itica I trauma for theatre purposes. You can abuse it a little bit.
5.	If it's about your audience, it's about your audience.
6.	Stick with your concept. Like, for real.