As YOU like it! – À la Carte Experimance
Performance by Finnish actress Outi Condit
Tuesday 30th June and Wednesday 1st July, 2.30pm – 5.00pm
Venue: Parry Williams Building, Dept Theatre, Film & TV, Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth
As YOU like it – À la Carte Experimance – Work In Progress is an intimate experimental theatre piece that explores “performance” as services, demands, and trade between the performer and the audience. The set is reminiscent of a gentle parlour setting and the performance is broken into the elementary components of a menu, with each item playing with shifts of power, emotion, and attention, with twists on the standard actor-participant-audience triad. Services are requested by audience members, which may then be performed for the guest, for the whole audience, by the guest and/or with the whole audience. Sometimes the performer leads, but at other times, one guest may control the service, or the whole audience may be involved. Participation at all times is entirely voluntary and consensual, anyone can decline participation if they feel uncomfortable, and the performance is formed uniquely from the group that collects at the start (hence, no late arrivals – apologies). Due to the nature of the performance, only 8-12 guests are allowed, with an optimum of 10.
As YOU like it is more than a performance: it may be approached as a game, like a ultra-modern take on Victorian parlour games, a journey of self-development within the safety of a facilitated group, or as an open space that the participants mould to their likeness, depending on each guest’s wish to participate and the contribution and experience they bring individually and collectively. The performance works best with a group from a variety of backgrounds, and thus the invitation to attend is extended to all staff and students at the Centre for Performance Research/Department of Theatre, Film and TV, and their associates.
The nature of the performance means that each performance is unique, hence the permanent subtitle Work in Progress. Limited VIP places will be offered by the actor – VIP guests will receive special service including refreshments, a larger variety of choices, and more opportunities to influence the performance. This reflects the structures of power seen everywhere in our society but here is approached as another element of the game. The structure of the performance is two parts, each about an hour long, with an interval, although the time within the space often seems to fly, unlike the passive watching of a play.
Outi Condit is a well known Finnish actress, described as “belonging to a generation of young and wild performers”. Out of necessity and volition she moves back and forth between the supposedly sophisticated stages of state theatres to underground clubs and venues where she feels at home.
Feedback from numerous performances suggest that most people feel changed by the performance in positive ways, and it provides an opportunity for self-reflection afterwards as well as bonding between the guests within that time and space. Continued connection after the service is available via the internet.
As you like it À la Carte Experimance Work In Progress was created by Outi Condit through a series of experiments in the living rooms of friends. It has since been performed in the basement of Turku City Theatre, where it was elected “The cultural event of the year” 2008. In the spring 2009 it was performed in Berlin and during the summer it will tour different venues in the UK.
CAST in UK:
Concept and performance: Outi Condit
Assistant: Kelly Morris
Supported by: Turku City Theatre, Turun teatterikerho säätiö
The proposed menu consists of:
A PIECE OF ME
Blood
Sweat
Tears
Shame
Regression
ENTRÉE ADVENTURE
Challenge and Reward
Inner Journey
A TASTE OF TRUTH
Eye to Eye
Veritaserum
The Vital Lie
Naked Oracle Foretells your Death
Manifesto
FORBIDDEN FRUIT
Orgasm Simulator
Private Pleasures
Back to the Womb
SWEETENERS
Laughter
A small break
Egomassage
TAKE AWAY
A Lasting Impression
Items need not be selected from each category, unlike a standard menu. Each item may not be what it seems on first impression!
See a trailer on you tube.