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In the Realm of the Senses

This was an object-theatre project, initially commissioned by the Little Angel Theatre’s Incubate programme. It sought to develop Furse’s AOH Laboratory research on touch and proximity between spectators and actors by examining the possibilities of a near-tactile ‘close-up’ with the spectator via the highly controlled manipulation of real objects.

Furse’s programme of research into the senses via movement methodologies with AOH was primarily rooted in her ‘Graphic Body’ training programme, developed as a digital manual at the Choreographic Lab in Northampton, with an emphasis on touch-derived research stemming from Contact Improvisation and experimentation with spectator proxemics, perception and touch.

The resulting performance piece, commissioned by LAT, was produced as part of the first adult puppetry festival Suspense (2009). It explored the ethics of audience non-participation or disturbance. The work deployed a text spliced from Barthes’ A Lover’s Discourse and the Biblical Song of Songs: ancient and modern texts that in different ways relish the anticipation of lovers’ meeting, allowing spectators to hear both philosophical and poetic discourse attuned to the prospect of intimate contact. Objects (clothing, 40 gold wedding rings, oyster shells, shaving tackle) were handled by the performers with meticulous focus and concentration as they slid on and off the huge ‘bed’ around which the audience sat next to them. With the whole body involved, each movement risked contact, coming very close without ever broaching the actual physical space of the spectator. The soundtrack by James Bulley and lighting by Mischa Twitchin sought to enhance the questions of intimacy and touch arising from the touch-sense performance.

The research findings from the production were elaborated in the chapter ‘Being Touched’, in A Life of Ethics of Performance, ed. Matthews and Torevell (Cambridge Scholars, 2011) and two lecture-performances (Goldsmiths; Stratford Circus Theatre Experimental Weekend)in 2011.