For the rehearsal process of our piece, we decided to experiment with mobile phones as a way to give instructions to the participants. During this experimentation process, we discovered that by giving instructions by using mobile phones alone, the piece became too hesitant. This was due to the fact that the instructions heard by the participant were misunderstood, or the phone was too quiet.
One member of our group called the number to the specific phone being used and asked the participant to repeat everything that was being said to them. The members of the dream reality group realized that this way of giving instructions to the participants became too complicated. From this idea, we then decided to keep the concept of using mobile phones, but to make it easier to give instructions to the participant who answered the phone.
the instructions which the participants read out loud were written down on cards and numbered 1-5, then the participant read out these instructions when told to do so. this was to maintain control of our piece as it was scripted. we could not have had the participant who answered the phone say anything they liked as it would have required a high level of improvisation. this would have slowed the piece down greatly.
This idea then gave us the thought that we could write out the instructions so the participant could read them out when the member of our group instructed them too after they answered the phone. The process of trial and error with using mobile phones meant that we came up with an idea to make the piece flow more and gave us more control over what the participants would say. whilst we still used the mobile phone to give instructions, we realized that even when the phone was put on loud speaker, it was far too quiet for the other participants\audience members to hear. to resolve this, we decided to use a microphone for the instructor to use so everyone would be able to hear what was being said.
Our influence for this idea came from Blast Theory’s use of mobile phones within their own performances such as A Machine to see with and Ulrike and Eamon compliance in which they too use mobile phones to instruct their participants at different intervals throughout the process. The difference between our group and Blast theory is that, they used these instructions to guide their participants to a different location. With dream reality, we instructed our participants to ask the ‘suspects’ a series of questions in order to find the person responsible for the attack.
In Blast theory’s a machine to see with, they tell their participant through the mobile phone that they are the lead in a heist movie. similarly in dream reality, the instructor tells the participant that they are now the hero. “A Machine To See With is a film where you play the lead. There are screenings every 15 minutes. You sign up online and hand over your mobile phone number. On the day, you receive an automated call giving you the address you need to go to. Once you arrive on your allotted street corner your phone rings. From there a series of instructions lead you through the city. You are the lead in a heist movie; it’s all about you.” (Blast theory (2013), Blast theory online: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_amachinetoseewith.html (Accessed: May 2013)
Our influence to use technology in our piece, mainly mobile phones, largely came from Blast theory. However, we felt as a group, that as mobile phones are usually the first point of call during any disaster or any event, it would be a very useful concept to explore.
The instructions that we used can be seen below, simply click on the PDF files:
