Pedestrian Performance: A Mapped Journey Volume 1 of 1 Submitted by Kristofor James Darby to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Drama In December 2012 This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University. Signature: ………………………………………………………….. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could not have materialised without the unwavering support of a number of people who have all assisted me in my writing. First and foremost is my supervisor, Stephen Hodge, who gave me the freedom to make my own way through my research, whilst making sure that I did not wander too far off the beaten track. Both he and Dr Jane Milling have proven a perfect partnership in helping me ascertain points of correlation between the landscapes of theatre and performance studies. Within the Drama Department at the University of Exeter I must thank Dr Sarah Goldingay for helping me in drafting my initial proposal three years ago; Dr Cathy Turner for providing extra details concerning Wrights & Sites; Phil Smith for the mythogeographic walks; Dr Piotr Woycicki for introducing me to mirror neurons and Professor Graham Ley for convincing me to do a PhD in the first place. I must also thank my fellow PhD students for their support: Solomon Lennox, Erin Walcon, Ilaria Pinna, Richard Feltham, Aqeel Abdulla and Jens Peters. I must also express my gratitutde to Dr Paul Sutton for his early advice, Matthew Earnest for taking the time to answer my questions regarding his work and Dr Fiona Wilkie for kindly sending me one of her papers. Finally thank you to the friends and family who have supported me throughout: Dad, Mum, Holly, Laurence, Nan, Grandma, Grandad, Nettie, Leigh, Louis, David, Kim, Sofia, Ren, Claudia, Carey, Jared, David, Angela, Sam, Pete, Dan and Emily. And a very special thank you to Sarah (my ‘third supervisor’) for supporting me every step of the way. 2 ABSTRACT This thesis is located within the discourse of pedestrian performance, an area of research which has emerged from a recent proliferation of site-based works that are concerned with walking as an aesthetic and performative practice. However, my research seeks to expand the field beyond studies of site-based performances. Through placing emphasis on the action of walking itself within performance, I argue that pedestrian performance is an umbrella term for a host of performances that utilise walking. Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century, I present a mapped journey of pedestrian performance, with each chapter in my thesis acting as a waymarker. Each waymarker is shaped by a distinctive spatial arrangement, plotting a journey from the theatre to the site. Although there is a sense of chronology in this journey, its structure lies principally in the subtle shifting of the spatial arrangement of the performer and audience. The first waymarker is that of the theatre, where I examine the manner in which the journey has been staged and the kinesthetic empathy of a seated audience. I then move to the overlooked staging of promenade performance, exploring the varying tensions incurred by putting an audience on their feet. From here I investigate the familiar territory of site and how walking allows us to distinguish between site-specific and situation-specific performances. Finally I address the non-site, illustrating how this theory of land artist Robert Smithson, can enhance our understanding of a recent wave of pedestrian performances which involve journeys to sites that cannot be reached. I close this thesis by presenting a more cohesive illustration of pedestrian performance, illustrating its varying incarnations within an expanded field. Such an expansion of the landscape allows the pedestrian performance scholar to discern between the different ways in which walking and the journey motif has been utilised in performance. Furthermore, it also reveals a legacy of this mode of performance which predates its popularity in site-based works, enabling a dialogue to occur between scholars of both theatre and performance studies. 3 LIST OF CONTENTS 6 List of Figures INTRODUCTION: ORIENTATION 8 CHAPTER ONE: TREADING THE BOARDS 27 From Time to Space: Parsifal (1882) – Richard Wagner 36 The Epic Flow: Good Soldier Schweik (1927) – Erwin Piscator 42 Inward Walking: Footfalls (1976) – Samuel Beckett 52 Real Observations: The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other [1992] 63 (2008) – James Macdonald The Labyrinth Narrative: Wanderlust (2010) 74 Conclusion: Theatre of the Feet 88 CHAPTER TWO: WALKING BETWEEN A DIVIDED STAGE 91 The Sometime Promenade: 1789 (1970) – Ariane Mnouchkine and 101 the Théâtre du Soleil Always on the Line: The Speakers (1974) – Joint Stock Theatre 109 Putting the Audience in their Place: Shakespeare’s Memory (1976) – 116 Peter Stein Individual Journeys: Faust (2006-07) - Punchdrunk 126 Conclusion: Between Confrontation and Collaboration 137 4 CHAPTER THREE: WALKING BETWEEN SITE AND SITUATION 141 A Pilgrimage of Pilgrimages: KA MOUNTAIN AND GUARDenia TERRACE: A Story About A Family and Some People Changing 151 (1972) – The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds and the Shiraz- Persepolis Festival of the Arts Seeing the 2D in 3D: YOU-The City (1988) – Fiona Templeton 167 A Tumbling Flow of Gossip: Bubbling Tom (2000) – Mike Pearson 180 Making Strange: The Drift (2001-) – Wrights & Sites 195 Conclusion: Frames and Situations 213 CHAPTER FOUR: NON-TRIPPING BETWEEN SITE AND 218 NON-SITE Walking Betweeen Two Presents: LINKED (2003-) – Graeme Miller 226 Roots and Routes: Tree (2003) – Dee Heddon 240 Playing with Distance: WALK WITH ME WALK WITH ME, WILL 257 SOMEBODY PLEASE WALK WITH ME (2006) – Lone Twin Conclusion: Back to the Theatre 273 CONCLUSION: RE-ORIENTATION 278 Appendix: Matthew Earnest Consent Form 285 Bibliography 287 5 LIST OF FIGURES 0.1 ‘A Line Made by Walking’ (1967) – Richard Long 1.1 ‘Wanderlust’ (2010) – Steve Wagner 1.2 ‘Parsifal Act One’ (1882) – Wagner Operas 1.3 ‘The Moving Panorama’ (1932) – Richard Wagner 1.4 ‘Four scenes from Piscator's Book’ (1927) – Erwin Piscator 1.5 ‘Diagrams of the treadmill stage’ (1927) – Erwin Piscator 1.6 ‘Drawings by Grosz for the film’ (1927) – Georg Grosz 1.7 ‘Eddie Ladd running’ (2010) – Cara Brostrom 1.8 ‘Billie Whitelaw in Footfalls, directed by Samuel Beckett’ (1976) – John Minihan 1.9 'The pacing feet of Fiona Shaw' (1994) – Neil Libbert 1.10 ‘Facsimile of Beckett's Production Notebook’ (1976) – Samuel Beckett 1.11 ‘The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other’ (2008) – Tristram Kenton 1.12 ‘March to Selma’ (2010) – Unknown Author 1.13 ‘Chartres Labyrinth’ (2006) – Unknown Author 2.1 ‘1789 Théâtre du Soleil’ (1970) – Martine Franck 2.2 'The Older Frankfurt Passion Play' Stage plan ca. 1450’ (1922) – Julius Peterson 2.3 Adaptation of Schechner's sketches for Environmental Theatre, with the insertion of Promenade diagram. 2.4 '1789' (1970) – Martine Franck 2.5 'The Speakers' (1974) – Unknown Author 2.6 ‘Shakespeare’s Memory’ (1976) – Peter Lackner 2.7 ‘Punchdrunk’ (2006-2007) – Thomas Ball 2.8 ‘Faust, 2006-2007’ (2006-2007) – Punchdrunk 3.1 ‘Wrights & Sites Subverting the City: A Mis-Guide to Milton Keynes’ (2005) – Stephen Hodge 3.2 'Sketch for a continuum of site-specific performance' (2001) – Stephen Hodge 6 3.3 ‘The Knife Dance’ (1972) – Basil Langton 3.4 Walking across the courts (1988) – Unknown Author 3.5 'Towards Other Diagram' (1988) – Fiona Templeton 3.6 ‘Bubbling Tom’ (2000) – Hugo Glendinning 3.7 ‘Dee Heddon re-performing Bubbling Tom, Hibaldstow, 6 April 2002’ (2002) – Rachel Jury 3.8 'Possible Forests' (2007) – Wrights & Sites 3.9 ‘Everything you need to build a town is here’ (2010) – Kris Darby 3.10 ‘Mis-Guided in Zürich - Mind the MAP’ (2005) – Wrights & Sites 3.11 ‘12 Noon’ Simultaneous Drift (4 walks, 4 routes, 4 screens)’ (2006) – Wrights & Sites 4.1 ‘On Everest’ (2005) – Lone Twin 4.2 ‘A non-site, Franklin, New Jersey, 1968’ (1968) – Robert Smithson 4.3 ‘Photo Collage’ – Steve Johnson 4.4 ‘Pick-Up Points’ – Linkedm11 4.5 'Filebrook Road 1994' (1994) – Yoshimi Kihara 4.6 'Linked Moment' 4.7 ‘Tree’ (2003) – Peter Hulton 4.8 ‘Tree’ (2003) – Peter Hulton 4.9 ‘Tree’ (2003) – Peter Hulton 4.10 ‘Tree’ (2003) – Peter Hulton 4.11 ‘Tree’ (2003) – Peter Hulton 4.12 ‘Tree's Non-trip’ 4.13 ‘WALK WITH ME, Frankfurt 2006’ (2006) – Unfriendly Takeover 4.14 ‘The Days of the Sledgehammer Have Gone’ (2002) – Lone Twin 4.15 ‘Patterson's Bigfoot’ (1967) – Roger Patterson 4.16 ‘The Non-Trip of WALK WITH ME’ 4.17 ‘Hodge's 'Continuum' with the addition of non-site’ 5.1 ‘Waymarkers of Pedestrian Performance’ 7 INTRODUCTION: ORIENTATION This image has been removed by the author of this thesis for copyright reasons. Figure 0.1 Richard Long, ‘A Line Made by Walking’ (1967). Source: Richard Long. We all walk the line. We have an end and a beginning which is joined to a much longer invisible line in the past and in the future. Richard Long (2002: 9) 8 THE LOCATION This thesis is located within the discourse of pedestrian performance, an area of research which has emerged from a recent proliferation of works that are concerned with walking as an aesthetic and performative practice. The reason I have chosen to adopt the term ‘pedestrian performance’ is two-fold: firstly because it is a term already used in performance studies (Lavery, 2009b) and secondly, because the duality of the term ‘pedestrian’ has an appropriateness to this thesis.