An exploration of the potentialities for the creation of a mise en scene and dramaturgy of confession in a traditional and public theatre space.

近年来，忏悔式的“一对一”独奏表演已经成为一种可见的表演实践形式，在个人日益商品化的文化中占据了一席之地。在这种背景下，作为实践者，理解这种形式的忏悔可能会给观众带来什么，尤其是通过经验和潜在的交流。在三年的时间里，作为一名AHRC创意研究员，我正在进行一系列理论和文化背景的实践探索，旨在理解表演中的“忏悔”是什么和可能是什么，它做了什么和可能做什么。我特别关注“亲密”、“风险”、“忏悔”和“现场”这些术语，以及它们在表演实践中的相互关系。为此，我的最后一个研究项目，我的重点是将我以前的实践探索的研究成果汇集在一起，以发现如何可能综合我的研究的四个关键术语来创造一个统一的表演环境，并探索创造一个场景和忏悔戏剧的潜力。这项研究将由一位以研究为主导的艺术家Minty Donald（巧合的是，他也是前创意研究员）进行，他也将担任首席顾问。通过合作，我们将研究如何在一个大型的、传统的和公共的剧院空间中创造一个亲密的、一对一的交流和互动的忏悔“旅程”。在六个月的时间里，我们将研究神圣和世俗的场所（例如，一个宗教花园和一个雕塑公园），作为创作场景和忏悔戏剧的语境框架。在此期间，我们还将与其他一些艺术家的作品进行接触，例如，探索声音和光线对体验式互动忏悔之旅的影响。在指定的时间内，邀请参与者在重建空间进行一系列实验表演，并采用不同的表演交流模式和变量，包括身体（例如握住），口头（交换语言信息）和沉默。这些实验表演的目的是确定：在一个大型的、传统的剧院空间中，亲密的、忏悔的互动是可以实现的；这些是否有可能被体验为“交换”和礼物；以及这是否可能作为一种世俗意义上的赦免。实验表演的参与者将被非正式地采访，他们的反馈将被综合到最终的公共表演中，目的是在表演者和观众之间产生最大程度的交流，使观众在作品结束时感受到某种程度的解放。这次表演也将被拍摄下来，供更多的观众观看。此外，在一个研讨会上，将邀请一组从业人员介绍他们自己对类似问题的实践主导研究中出现的正在进行的工作，同时邀请一些学者发表与忏悔和忏悔表现有关的论文。我还将提交一篇论文，这将是对该项目的研究结果的批判性反思。这篇论文将作为一篇文章提交给同行评议的期刊（Performance Research）。鉴于英国和美国的个人忏悔实践的程度，以及这种实践发生的背景（大众媒介的忏悔文化），这个项目的目的是对忏悔形式和我自己的实践进行及时的实践讯问。

Confessional, 'one-to-one' solo performance has become a visible form of performance practice in recent years, taking its place in a culture where the personal has become increasingly commodified. In this context, it seems imperative to understand, as practitioners, what this form of confession might enable, particularly by way of experience and the potential for exchange, for the spectator. Over the duration of three years, as an AHRC Creative Fellow, I am conducting a series of theoretically and culturally contextualised practical explorations which aim to understand what 'confession' in performance is and might be, what it does and might do. In particular I am interrogating the terms 'intimacy', 'risk', 'confession' and 'site', and the inter-relations between these in performance practice.For this, my final research project, my focus is on drawing together the research findings from my previous practical explorations to discover how it might be possible to synthesise the four key terms of my research to create a unified performance context and to explore the potential for creating a mise en scene and dramaturgy of confession. This research will be undertaken with a research-led artist, Minty Donald ( and, coincidentally a former Creative Fellow), who will also function as a principal consultant. Collaboratively, we will investigate how the creation of an intimate, one-to-one confessional 'journey' of exchange and interaction might be realised in a large, conventional and public theatre space.Over a period of six months we will research both the sacred and the secular site ( for example, a religious garden and a sculpture park) as a contextual framing for the creation of a mise en scene and dramaturgy of confession. This period will also see us engaging with the work of a number of other artists, for example, exploring the impact of sound and light on an experiential, interactive confessional journey. There will be a designated period of enlisting invited participants for a run of experimental performances in the recreated space, and different modes and variables of performance exchange will be utilised, including physical (e.g. holding), oral (exchange of verbal information)and silence. The aim of these experimental performances is to determine: the extent to which an intimate, confessional interaction is achievable in a large, conventional theatre space; whether it is possible for these to be experienced as 'exchange' and gift; and whether this might potentially be experienced as a secular equivalent to absolution.The participants for the experimental performances will be informally interviewed and their feedback synthesised in the devising of a final public performance, which aims to engender the greatest degree of exchange between performer and spectator in such a way that the spectator feels to some extent liberated by the end of the piece. This performance will also be filmed and made available to a much wider audience.In addition, a symposium will see a group of practitioners invited to present work-in-progress that has emerged out of their own practice-led research into similar issues, alongside a number of academics invited to give papers relating to confession and confessional performance. I will also present a paper which will be a critical reflection on the findings of this project. This paper will then be submitted as an article to a peer-reviewed journal (Performance Research).Given the extent of solo, confessional practice in evidence in the UK and the USA, and the context in which this practice takes place (that of a mass-mediated confessional culture), the purpose of this project is to offer a timely practical interrogation of the confessional form and of my own practice.