In conversation

In Conversation was a monologue performance in the form of an imagined Garden Party, in which I took on the character of several conversing guests at once. The guests were based on characters I have known, some living and some dead. The performance was something of a séance, as the guests were given body and voice through me, and something of a memory game, as the people I have known in very different times and places were conjured up and made to (often awkwardly) interact. Taking place in a darkened auditorium, before a cheerful looking floral projection, it also had much of the character of a lonely child’s game.

Research for In Conversation included re-reading selected texts of Samuel Beckett and TS Eliot, both of whom were referenced and quoted in the piece. However, the main element of research or preparation involved an in-depth process of script writing and editing (most of my performance projects begin with the development of a full script, which is then used as a basis for improvisation), the painting of the garden backdrops (which were photographed for slide projection onto the enormous screens of the lecture theatre at the V&A), and the development of a full cast of characters, which were represented in the scripting stage, and internalised as ‘voices’ in the solo improvisation.

The exhibition was produced, curated and promoted by Emma Underhill of Up Projects for the V&A Museum, London.