DJALCHEMI

Blogging Forced Entertainment's new show

Over the last the last three weeks, Tim Etchells, creative director of Forced Entertainment has been writing a blog of the company's rehearsals for its next show. His entry for 1 February sets the scene for the weeks of the collective improvisation from which they create their performances:

Rehearsal room activities:
Talking
Smoking
Drinking coffee
Getting coffee
Wandering the studio, whilst talking
Wandering the studio, whilst listening
Throwing the craft knife that someone (Richard?) has left in there into the small table, into the floor. Dropping the craft knife into some cardboard boxes left on the table. Dropping the craft knife so that it sticks into the floor.

Then two weeks later — after a pause in the entries — "Several days of abject stuckness", evoking, for me, the knottiness of Wittgenstein's "mental cramp". Apparently every Forcedents show goes through this stage, but it doesn't make it any easier knowing that when you're in the middle of it.

This is latest instalment of several self-explications of the company's working practice, following their video and CD-ROM, as well as Tim Etchells' excellent collection of essays and performance texts. Worth keeping an eye on.

[Update, 8 November 02006: following a redesign of the Forced Entertainment website, many of the links above have been updated. They still more or less fit the context, but apologies for any non-sequiturs in your hyperlinked journey.] Posted by David Jennings in section(s) Cultural Calendar on 21 February 02005 | TrackBack