Output details

3rd Ring Out: Rehearsing the Future

The practice-as-research project, 3rd Ring Out, was a performance that toured the UK in 2010 and 2011. It also had - and continues to have - a significant online presence. The research output was a series of performances that, whilst retaining its basic format, had several iterations, incorporating discoveries made through the performances themselves.

The medium of performance is essential to understanding this practice-as-research project. 3rd Ring Out explored the cultural practice of using rehearsed scenarios and then transformed it, via the medium of theatrical performance presented to the public in established theatre festivals, into a method for tackling complex and politically charged issues, a method which had a strong emphasis on engaging audiences’ attention. The performance was immersive, created in two 20 foot-long orange shipping containers with interiors designed as though they were two smart emergency planning offices. The performance used headphones, a 3-D soundscape with speakers embedded inside and outside the container, objects, touch, direct interaction with performers live, video, music, multiple visual perspectives (depending on seating arrangements), social engagement between audience members and a bespoke interactive digital voting system. As a result, the documentation provided offers a variety of means to understand the nature of the performance – including descriptions of voting processes, and material not made available to the public regarding the underlying structure of the voting system.

Documentation and contextualising material is available online, and will be submitted via DVD. This DVD will incorporate:

1. 3rd Ring Out website, including a video of extracts from performances with audience responses.

2. An essay and other materials presenting the research context, conceptual background and findings of the project

3. Photo gallery including images of the artistic process in developing the performance system and early stage iterations/ideas

4. A document demonstrating how the performances altered through different iterations.