‘I Hope You’re Sitting Comfortably’ – a satirical performance piece exploring the psychology, sociology and history of the act of watching.
Written and performed by Liam Gordon.
“We enter, search for our seat numbers, excuse me, shuffle, coat off, sit and flick through the programme, gulp wine, sit, shush, lights go down, silence, gulp the wine, watch, brain wonders, think of the lights, think of red, think of the car, think of tomorrow, think of the time, think of fish, pull back, watch, fiddle thumbs, look at the wall, look at the ceiling, pull back, watch, snigger, laugh, gulp wine, watch, turn to our neighbour, laugh, watch, clap, leave.”
In the darkness of the theatre, we find it easy to disappear into the silence; safely sat behind the invisible wall between us and the performers. We fear the moment they cross that thresh hold. We fear we may interrupt if we speak to them. We fear that we have to make sense of something we see. We fear our crisp packet will rustle too loud. Performance becomes a very nerve racking experience. ‘I Hope Your Sitting Comfortably’ encourages us all to break these unwritten rules towards theatre we have become bound by and understand the power of control we as spectators have.
Liam Gordon creates a space which playfully and speculates the positions and responsibilities of being a performance spectator which incorporates autobiographical and biographical text, interplay between monologue and dialogue with live participation.
With special thanks to Alexander Kelly & Teresa Brayshaw for their mentorship throughout the process. Also to the MA students and staff from Leeds Beckett University.
Photography by - Vicky Matthers
"Simple in form with a profuse amount of thought provoking ideology, humour, subdued anarchic ignition and above all heart. 'I Hope You're Sitting Comfortably' is a rollercoaster of a performance piece ready to question, inform and awaken"
- Anna D'franca, producer of Limits Theatre Collective
PROJECTS
I HOPE YOU'RE SITTING
COMFORTABLY//
"An earnest, unflinching and at times heart achingly grueling reflection on the culture of performance as a medium, from past to present"
- Adam Young, Artistic Director of Live Art Bistro
"Liam's performance looks at the approaches of mindfulness within a performance environment. Watching his work made me reflect and think about how awkward openings can be and some of the rituals we engage in prior to commencing performerances when we know we are on view and being judged or evaluated in some way... It also ame me think how much of our lives we spend waiting"
- Dr Helen Fawkner, Senior Lecturer in Social, Psychology and Communication Sciences
An article written about the piece and reflection on a talkback session with psuchology profssionals -
http://leedsbeckett.ac.uk/news/1215ma-performance-student-fuses-performance-and-psychology/
"You have us in that moment, fill our heads with given ideology and questions for us then to rework and find answers too, well after the lights go down. I still now begin to notice moments which automatically draw me back to a moment you discussed. Very intellectually stimulating; so simple yet so unlocking. A feast for the mind."
- Andrew Cowie, part-time lecturer in Performing Arts
We are currently touring our solo spoken word piece 'I Hope You're Sitting Comfortably' for Spring/ Summer 2016.
Performance dates can be found HERE
Our final performance at Sheffield Library Theatre 30th Septemeber; tickets on sale now HERE
BACKGROUND//
I Hope You’re Sitting Comfortably began as the final performance module for Liam Gordon during his MA at Leeds Beckett University. The task was clear, to create a new piece of performance work. The objective was to create a piece which finally shows what kind of artist you are. It began life as a working in progress extract called ‘I am in CUNT-rol’, an idea experimenting with the hidden internal conversations which occur to a person when they are an audience member. The extract tested some beginning ideas surrounding the interplay between psychology and performance; what it means to have fear in a seemingly free environment like a theatre, what it means to be entertained and the exploration of personal annoyances. An idea cam into existence and then became a place to explore further. Coming from a dance background, Liam as a performer was use to portraying another's choreography or portraying a character, but this process seemed a lot more personal, much more cathartic. Why was it that he was afraid of being himself on a stage? Why was he anguished to tell his stories?
In August, 2015 Liam locked himself away with a video camera and spoke, uninhibited and unrehearsed. From that 7hour recorded conversation to himself came ideas surrounding paying attention, the act of watching performances, why people are fearful of contemporary work, what it means to the performer to have an indifferent spectator response, personal frustrations with presence, performance as a live form of communication and questioning and finally history as a foundation for discovery.
As the piece developed, it became clear that it became less about a performance or a narrative and more about that moment in time, that gathering of bodies sharing this moment. Getting people to take an hour out of their day to collectively be present in what ever manifestation that is.
The piece has currently been on tour across the UK in numerous performance festivals, literary and psychology festivals and used as a theoretical piece with undergraduate performance courses.
