Students prepare for five-hour performance art project
Thursday 18 January 2018
A GROUP of students are getting ready for a marathon performance art project, as part of a series of collaborations with professional theatre companies.
The 10 students, from the University of Salford’s Theatre and Performance Practice programme, will spend five hours taking part in the ‘durational’ performance at The Lowry, in which they will use 4,000 orange table tennis balls in a task set to test their physical and mental endurance.
They’ve been working with performance artists Gillian Jane Lees and Adam York-Gregory to develop the event - Perspective is not a Science (But a Hope).
Adam explained: “This is more like a piece of visual art than a traditional theatre performance, and the audience can come and go as they please. Watching the piece will make you consider whether you want them to succeed or whether it’s more fun to see them fail, and what will eventually become clear is all the balls on the floor becomes a mountain of their collective failure.
“Taking part in a work like this will give the students a far greater understanding of themselves as performers. With artists like Marina Abramovic working alongside Lady Gaga, performance art is increasingly influencing pop culture, but for students who don’t continue in this field there are still plenty of skills that they can develop and translate into a more traditional approach.”
The performance will be shown at The Lowry’s Aldridge Studio from 5-10pm on January 24, as part of a double bill with a performance of the performance art company’s own Present Tense piece the following night. Audiences can buy a ticket providing entry to both performances.
Theatre and Performance Practice students and the new cohort of MA students in Contemporary Theatre Practice have also been working with Mole Wetherell, artistic director of the international performance company Reckless Sleepers.
The students have worked with him to create a new production called Verbal, which will be performed at the Digital and Performance Lab at the University’s MediaCityUK on January 18 and 19.
The new performance is part of a double bill with the company’s own The Last Supper show, which has been touring around the world for the past 15 years and has been described as ‘unbearably moving’ by The Guardian.
Niki Woods, Lecturer in Theatre and Performance Practice at the University of Salford, said: “Reckless Sleepers and artists Gillian and Adam are both cutting edge performance companies and working with them will give our students a new perspective on what can be achieved on the stage.
“These collaborations also show our commitment to providing students with unrivalled experience of working closely with highly regarded companies to develop new work in professional venues.”
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