Experiment #1: Nothing to Sea Here
A reminder of the deadly consequences of plastic, cans and packaging littering our oceans
ACTION
The small act was a procession down the pedestrianised shopping precinct of Northumberland Street in Newcastle. We create a cloak covered in plastic waste, bottles, bags, packaging and cans worn by one performer, a representation of the sea. The cloak drags along the ground like a train, with words written on cardboard: “drowned”,” biodegradable”, “trapped”, “shame” attached in amongst the rubbish. The Sea walks slowly, hunched under the weight of the rubbish, as the performance progresses she seems to get more and more ill, staggering, crawling, trying to breathe. Three performers are dressed as cleaners with rubber gloves, overalls, smocks and aprons. They have pieces of paper attached to them saying ‘nothing to sea here’. They repeat this phrase during the performance urging public to move along and not look. By trying to hide the Sea the intention is that people will try to look. Three more performers carry seaside paraphernalia; bucket, spade and beach mats. The procession moves down street, the Sea is surrounded by the six other performers appearing to escort her or hide her. At three points along the way down Northumberland Street the group stops. The Sea stumbles and falls to the ground, now looking like a pile of rubbish. The three performers with mats roll them out and sunbathe, ignoring the state of the Sea. They throw their rubbish on the ground around them. The three cleaners keep telling the passing public that there is nothing to see here and pick up rubbish they find in the street around them. They pin this to the cloak adding more rubbish the pile that already weighs the sea down.
The small act was a procession down the pedestrianised shopping precinct of Northumberland Street in Newcastle. We create a cloak covered in plastic waste, bottles, bags, packaging and cans worn by one performer, a representation of the sea. The cloak drags along the ground like a train, with words written on cardboard: “drowned”,” biodegradable”, “trapped”, “shame” attached in amongst the rubbish. The Sea walks slowly, hunched under the weight of the rubbish, as the performance progresses she seems to get more and more ill, staggering, crawling, trying to breathe. Three performers are dressed as cleaners with rubber gloves, overalls, smocks and aprons. They have pieces of paper attached to them saying ‘nothing to sea here’. They repeat this phrase during the performance urging public to move along and not look. By trying to hide the Sea the intention is that people will try to look. Three more performers carry seaside paraphernalia; bucket, spade and beach mats. The procession moves down street, the Sea is surrounded by the six other performers appearing to escort her or hide her. At three points along the way down Northumberland Street the group stops. The Sea stumbles and falls to the ground, now looking like a pile of rubbish. The three performers with mats roll them out and sunbathe, ignoring the state of the Sea. They throw their rubbish on the ground around them. The three cleaners keep telling the passing public that there is nothing to see here and pick up rubbish they find in the street around them. They pin this to the cloak adding more rubbish the pile that already weighs the sea down.
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
The spectacle affects the public in a variety of ways. People speculate about what it means and what is happening. Some correctly assess that it is a protest about plastic. A 60 year old woman says “It is really important; I hope more people take notice. It’s certainly made an impression on me”. A man in his 40s says makes a connection to further environmental issues, “We’re going to run out of coal and gas by 2050. This is a really good protest”. Others are genuinely confused by what it means. A couple of girls in their early 20s look on and laugh while filming it. One says, “I can’t even capture how weird this is”. A man in his 30s asks, “Have they got nothing better to do with their day?” A mother takes the opportunity to discuss the issue about plastic filling up our oceans and killing sea life to her children who are curious about what is happening. Noticing that I am involved she smiles and thanks me. A man says he is an army paramedic and was genuinely concerned about the Sea, asking if she needed medical help. He was clearly unused to performance or protest and did not recognise the signifiers that what was happening was not real.
The spectacle affects the public in a variety of ways. People speculate about what it means and what is happening. Some correctly assess that it is a protest about plastic. A 60 year old woman says “It is really important; I hope more people take notice. It’s certainly made an impression on me”. A man in his 40s says makes a connection to further environmental issues, “We’re going to run out of coal and gas by 2050. This is a really good protest”. Others are genuinely confused by what it means. A couple of girls in their early 20s look on and laugh while filming it. One says, “I can’t even capture how weird this is”. A man in his 30s asks, “Have they got nothing better to do with their day?” A mother takes the opportunity to discuss the issue about plastic filling up our oceans and killing sea life to her children who are curious about what is happening. Noticing that I am involved she smiles and thanks me. A man says he is an army paramedic and was genuinely concerned about the Sea, asking if she needed medical help. He was clearly unused to performance or protest and did not recognise the signifiers that what was happening was not real.
REFLECTIONS AFTER THE ACT
The group described the issue about plastic as a cold topic; an issue that most people would agree with, with few conflicting viewpoints. Unlike ‘Brexit’ which was described as a hot topic; with more possibilities for conflict, debate or divisive opinions.
The issues about plastic have been on social media and in the news a lot recently. It seemed that if the public understood the act it confirmed their view, so the act didn’t challenge them. Others did not understand the act or chose not to. It raised a question about whether they did not care about the issue of plastic or chose not to engage with it spectacle we had created.
An aspect that was missing from the action was a clear message about what we wanted to the audience to think or do. The action confirmed some people’s view, but plastic is so ubiquitous in the world it is very difficult to stop using it. We feel guilt about the amount of plastic filling up the ocean but the actuality of giving up plastic is a lot more difficult when shops and supermarkets fill their shelves with it.
The cloak that we created ended up looking like a wedding veil and the procession could be read as a wedding march. A further development of the act could be to have the Sea in a forced marriage to a big corporation or supermarket. This would give the act a clearer message about who we felt was to blame and needed to be held to account. By naming corporations or using written hashtags in the piece, we could encourage the public to go online and write to policy makers or supermarkets to get them to make changes regarding the use of plastics at that level.
The group described the issue about plastic as a cold topic; an issue that most people would agree with, with few conflicting viewpoints. Unlike ‘Brexit’ which was described as a hot topic; with more possibilities for conflict, debate or divisive opinions.
The issues about plastic have been on social media and in the news a lot recently. It seemed that if the public understood the act it confirmed their view, so the act didn’t challenge them. Others did not understand the act or chose not to. It raised a question about whether they did not care about the issue of plastic or chose not to engage with it spectacle we had created.
An aspect that was missing from the action was a clear message about what we wanted to the audience to think or do. The action confirmed some people’s view, but plastic is so ubiquitous in the world it is very difficult to stop using it. We feel guilt about the amount of plastic filling up the ocean but the actuality of giving up plastic is a lot more difficult when shops and supermarkets fill their shelves with it.
The cloak that we created ended up looking like a wedding veil and the procession could be read as a wedding march. A further development of the act could be to have the Sea in a forced marriage to a big corporation or supermarket. This would give the act a clearer message about who we felt was to blame and needed to be held to account. By naming corporations or using written hashtags in the piece, we could encourage the public to go online and write to policy makers or supermarkets to get them to make changes regarding the use of plastics at that level.
THE WORKSHOP
PART ONE - games and physical exploration to get to know each other, build trust and complicity
PART ONE - games and physical exploration to get to know each other, build trust and complicity
PART TWO - three groups exploring different elements; source material on street protest tactics, issues the group would like to address and circus acts, their embodied metaphors and potential political links. This is followed by brainstorming potential 'acts of resistance'. The group share ideas and collectively we select an act that combines elements of a few reoccurring ideas
ABOUT ROBYN
Robyn is a Bristol-based director, teacher and performer. With over 20 years experience she is a passionate practitioner of clowning, physical theatre, circus and street arts. She has a MA in Circus Directing, a Diploma of Physical Theatre Practice and trained with a long line of inspiring teachers including Holly Stoppit, Peta Lily, Giovanni Fusetti, Bim Mason, Jon Davison, Zuma Puma, Lucy Hopkins and John Wright.
Over the past five years she has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and a deep desire to address the injustices in the world. This specialism has developed through her Masters Research ‘Small Circus Acts of Resistance’, on the streets and in protests with the Bristol Rebel Clowns and in research residencies with The Trickster Laboratory. Robyn’s Activist Clown research has led to collaborations with Jay Jordan (Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination, France), Clown Me In (Beirut), LM Bogad (US), Hilary Ramsden (Greece) and international Tricksters; ‘The Yes Men’ (US). During the pandemic in 2020, Robyn set up The Online Clown Academy with Holly Stoppit and developed a series of Zoom Clown Courses. Robyn’s research, started during her Masters, has been exploring the meeting point of clowning and activism, online, in the real world and with international collaborators. With this drive to explore political edges of her work she has also dived back into the world of the Bouffon; training with Jaime Mears, Bim Mason, Nathaniel Justiniano, Eric Davis, Tim Licata, Al Seed and the grand master Bouffon-himself; Philippe Gaulier. Keen to explore the intersection of clowning and politics, Robyn is driven to create collaborative, research spaces, testing and pushing the limits of the artform to create new knowledge and methodologies for her industry and strengthen partnerships for future work. Some of her most recent collaborations and teaching projects have included the Nomadic Rebel Clown Academy (5-day Activist Clown Training), The Laboratory of the Un-beautiful (Feminist Grotesque Bouffon Training for Womxn Theatre Makers) and the Clown Congress (annual gathering of clowns, activists & academics collectively exploring what it means to be a clown in this current era) |
Photo by HeardinLondon Photography
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