Performance and the Partial
Hetty Blades. 2019
This is an extract from Blades, H. 2019.‘Performance and the Partial.’ Paper. Choreographic Practices. In this article, Blades reflects on their experience of two performance works: Still Life (2018) by Hamish Macpherson and Papier mutliforme et Papier Comestible (2018) by Emilie Gallier, both of which cultivate partial experiences for the spectator. Blades considers how the partial nature of these works raise questions about what it means to access a choreographic work and rely on new ways of thinking about how we experience and analyse performance.
MacPherson describes Still Life as “one work made up of 11 one-hour performances, overlapping over six hours. Individual performances do not have specific tickets, audiences can enter between noon and 5pm every 30 minutes and stay for an hour” (MacPherson 2018a). Despite its length, MacPherson suggests the work is not a durational piece because it is not about a single thing happening for a long time, but has a more traditional theatrical structure in that there are various scenes in which quite different things happen (MacPherson 2018b). Before attending the first sharing, I receive an email from MacPherson explaining that audiences can enter the performance every half an hour. When I arrive the door is closed, implying the performance has already started. There is someone else waiting outside the door, unsure whether or not to open it. Together we enter the studio. We loiter, not sure where to sit and I realise I didn’t read the instructions pinned to the door. The studio space is hazy, like a smoke machine has been blowing. MacPherson, Paul Hughes and Antonio De La Fe and are moving in the space, which is littered with brightly coloured material. In the centre of the room Kimberley Harvey sits motionless in her wheelchair, shrouded in various items of clothing and tied up in rope. Her whole body, including her face and head, is covered. The performers are clearly in the middle of something. I have entered in the middle, but this is where it starts for me. I sit and watch as the men continue to move. Harvey remains motionless. The dynamics between moving men and a still woman and people with and without disabilities is unsettling. It is a relief when Harvey starts to untie herself, slowing removing herself from the shroud of fabric. I am aware that I don’t have the whole picture. I don’t know what has come before or whether knowing this would have any bearing on how I am interpreting the actions. Have there been relationships established that I should know about? What if I am missing some key information that will inform my experience and understanding of the piece?
The performers re-set themselves into new places. A new scene begins.
Hughes lies on the floor and reads from a series of cue cards to direct De La few in various tasks. Hughes is mostly still although his arms and face are mobile. The tasks he directs De La Fe to perform include giving him something to drink and telling him things about himself. At times, De La Fe moves Hughes around the space, dragging his body while Paul remains immobile. Hughes’ directions are curt but soft, he adds ‘please’ to the request only once or twice. De La Fe follows each instruction diligently.