SCORE FOR AN IMAGINED PERFORMANCE
UK
2018
Commissioned by Curator Nikki Kane for Basin Bathhouse
Here for audio version as originally broadcast on Clydeside Radio

[notation]

The performance takes place between the derelict white workshop building and canalside, and between the red brick shed at the far end of the carpark and the wooden shelter surrounding the sauna. It is, of course, entirely fictional and as such you are at liberty to instead imagine a completely different set of scenarios. The three performers, who you’ll encounter soon, will for the sake of this description be called performer one, performer two and performer three.

Water wallows heavy and full in the basin. Performer one appears from around the back of the white workshop building in faded grey trainers and sheer socks. Their clothes are made out of a kind of heavy cotton and the relative stiffness of the fabric holds its own shape around their body. They walk into the carpark and stand between the first two yellow lines, their clothes holding delayed folds as their legs pass one another. The performance has not been rehearsed and this has imbued their movement with both a hesitancy and freedom.

Their balmed mouth parts and a breath escapes into a forward fold - the back of their hands trailing across the tarmac and dragging along loose stones of gravel. Knees bent, a thumb and two fingers press into the ground and release upwards pulling arms and elbows in a brisk skyward motion. Gravel stuck to flesh drops away and a head loose in its neck rolls heavy - dull - backwards. Their shoulder blades roll back slightly to accommodate for the weight of their arms with hands seeming to float above them.

Two more performers walk into the carpark and slowly descend from standing in a backwards lean with bent knees and up-turned faces, into languid positions on the tarmac a short distance from performer one. They wear a similar cotton in different shades and the same grey trainers and sheer socks. A few of performer two’s dark leg hairs poke through the mesh in a break for freedom from the polyester. Each propped by an elbow, their expressions are relaxed, and loose lidded eyes wander across the water. With performer one’s hands still floating above their head, a period of time passes and the leaning performers shift, at non-synchronised intervals into different resting positions as if sunbathing or daydreaming. The mood is a hot vivid blue. (One of the performers seems sort of arrogant and is definitely enjoying being watched - they take a little longer in their shifts between movements and, as they settle into each position, they embellish their pose with a small jutting of their chin. Their nails are manicured with jewels dangling from each pointed tip and the light reflecting from the canal’s water bounces off their small facets into a shower of silvery patina across their clothes, extending the movement of each shift as the hands and jewels come to rest.)

Performer 1, prompted by breath, breaks the stillness with a sudden forceful flinging of their arms, as if trying to swat away a swarm of flies that are at arm's length. The sleeves of their top billow with each extension and for a split second the cloth is suspended in one place as the arm begins its return movement. Their feet move to steady the thrashing of their body and the result is a kind of tennis-esque sequence of footwork. A few seconds after, performer two stands up and begins throwing their head back-and-forth, bending from the waist in a head-banging action releasing their long tresses into the wind. There are some pleasing coincidences where flung arms and thrown hair synchronise in what is otherwise a chaotic moment – It feels very contemporary.

The eyes of Performer 3 flit to different audience members and pin them in flirtatious contact. They are still lying languid, watching the movements of the other two, though it’s unclear if they are still performing, if they have given up, or have forgotten the choreography. If they have forgotten it, they are doing a pretty good job at looking purposeful.

The thrashing and throwing of performers 1 and 2 morphs into a new sequence- and their expressions shift. The second performer turns their attention to their arms. Stood static with weight on their heels and facing the structure around the sauna, their upper torso twists, arms rounded and palms upward. The movement feels kind of balletic but as if there are sacks of flour weighing down the limbs. With each swoop the hairs on their arms and the fibres on their jumper are pulled in unison, performing a chorus of minute dances. Their head hair that has expanded somewhat from the thrashing slows to a gentle sway. With each lean, wisps of shorter hairs that are maybe growing or which have broken off, form a halo mesh around their head, lifted by the moisture of the outdoors.

-Eventually shifting from their languishing, the third performer joins the first in a gentle jog up to the far red brick barn building to the west, touching the large doors before turning to jog back towards the bridge. Their jogs move in and out of synchronicity, a few steps made in unison before falling away-then-back in time. This sequence is repeated a few times over, the performers’ thighs like pistons on a four cylinder engine, tasting of tannins. The arm sequence of the second performer has drifted into a quieter set of swoops, the weightedness reduced. With each lean, the swoop of their arm has developed a slacking at the wrists and as their hands pass their face the back of their hand brushes their turned cheek. The oxblood colour of the movement fades to a sun-bleached burgundy.

Performers one and three jog past performer two before turning to repeat their route. Half way back to the red brick barn performer one halts and picks up the same swooping arms of performer two. Their back is facing them and whilst the score for this sequence is the same, the difference in their bone structures affords a change in resonance, the swoops of performer one punctuated; by their more angular elbows and wrists; and feeling more ochre in tone.

Their -movement brings with it a low hum as they shift their awareness from their peripheries into their body.

They hone their awareness into the base of their spine, imagining it as a sandstone-red heat and allowing the sensation of their lower vertebrae to guide them.

All three performers lift their heads and, through a peripheral gaze, reach a collective stillness. They have ended up in an equally spaced line formation from the end of the carpark by the sauna up to the red brick barn. They stand, each facing a different direction and pause in a neutral stance for a few moments. The audience begin to fidget slightly, unsure as to whether the performance has ended. There is some shuffling and a few audience members lift their hands anticipating the beginning of an applause.
*faster*

A sudden brisk walk provokes a transformation in feeling. The three performers appear to break from ‘performance-mode’ and, assembling in a group at the east end of the carpark, begin, functionally, to remove their outer layers of clothing as if stood in a kitchen and removing a garment to add to an almost-full load of washing. They are communicating in hushed tones, smiling at one another as they pass their warm fabric piles to performer one who half-walks, half-jogs to place them down a short distance away.

Performer three, who has jogged around the side of the wooden structure by the sauna, reappears with arms full of a deep, wine coloured tulle and mesh. They drop this to the tarmac and begin to wrap it around the waist and up, over the left shoulder performer one. Performer two assists, walking circles around performer one, building layers that slowly begin to blur the outline of a body. Just as a form begins to appear in the make-shift garment, Performer one makes a dash west, dragging the others still clinging to the fabric as they go in a skittish run which changes direction with the same urgent frequency as a mouse discovered in the corner of a room.

The gown falls away, single layers still clinging static to undergarments and a train stretching almost the full length of the performance space twists across the carpark as it disappears behind the white workshop building behind performer one. Performers two and three who had abandoned their task around a third of the way through the skittish sequence walk with purpose back towards the sauna.

As they approach the third-last parking space, Performer three assumes a seated position facing the water. Performer two, facing the white workshop building, steps over them, lowering into a squat before moving onto their knees in a wide straddle. Performer three begins to flex and stretch their ankles and knees causing a gentle bobbing of the performer on top of them.

Performer one re-enters in a jog from the right side of the workshop building, carrying two large bottles of water which they pass to performer two before moving to stand in a wide berth with hands on hips staring into the main cluster of audience. Holding one bottle in their left hand and one in their right, Performer two twists to their left side. Locking eye contact with an audience member, they tip back their head glugging the contents of their left handed bottle which spills onto their cheeks with the judder of the limbs of the performer beneath them. Reaching the last gulp they drop the bottle, releasing a mouthful of spit soaked liquid down their front and onto performer three; their eyes still locked forwards. The first performer moves from their wide stance onto all fours at a diagonal from performers two and three. Looking directly at the nearest audience members they slacken their jaw and begin to dribble onto the tarmac, bubbles of saliva cascading over their plump bottom lip.

The second performer stands up from their straddle, opening their right hand’s bottle of water which they spew shaken-champagne-style over the performer on all fours and dampening performer three in the process. Performer one’s hair is plastered to their face. It is quite cold and the skin of all three performers begins to contract into goosebumps beneath the droplets of water.

With a similar urgency, as seems to be the character of this section, all three performers run to the white flaking wall of the old workshop building and, backs to the stone, they begin to jump up and down, letting out what sound like squawks of joy as they do so. As they continue the sequence, they each begin removing their shoes, resulting in their landings shifting to and fro from the off-balance of their one legged, bent over leaps. Performer one is positioned next to a puddle created from the water bottle section and as their jumps shift their left sock hits the water. Their nostrils flicker in recognition of the unpleasant sensation and their squawk changes in timbre. Performer three, fatigued from the labour of being ‘on-stage’ lets out a sigh between squawks, taking an extra deep breath to try to pull themselves through. They’ve needed a piss for a while and the cold dampness of their groin is particularly uncomfortable. The sequence continues with strewn trainers peppering the ground, though the jumps become less enthusiastic.

One by one the performers fall away and into slow saunters away from the wall and out across the carpark. They all begin to repeat the first movement of performers two and three, slowly descending from standing in backwards leans with bent knees and up-turned faces, into languid positions on the tarmac. Performer one stands back up as two and three switch poses. They begin the diagonal head-banding action which has become more violent after the soaking of their hair. A strand catches their eye and prompts a tear to roll down their left cheek, dropping onto the inside of their left wrist.

Changing their lounging positions again, performer three lifts their hips, pushing the back of their right shoulder into the ground and beginning to walk a circle around themselves, their head the pivot point. Gravel gathers into their hair. Somehow the rhythm of their circling complements the thrashing of performer one.

Standing up, performer two proceeds to remove their now torn socks, discarding them along with the pile of trainers behind them. They bend to scoop up performer three from their sixth rotation around themselves, their right arm supporting the back of their knees and their left the back of their head. Walking back towards the red bricked barn, they touch the arm of performer one who stops the head-banging, lifting their head and lengthening their spine back to a neutral stand as the other performers eventually turn right and out of sight.

Clouded sunlight shatters off the cured, midnight surface of the canal and the water wallows heavy and full in the basin. Performer one makes a small adjustment of their feet, the movement of their chest visible and heavy with breath. From behind the white building a watery mist rolls across the tarmac, dragging along the surface of the puddles and slowly ascending upwards. It feels quite poignant but you’re not really sure why. The colour is a deep navy.

M M. WHAWELL

FUNERAL FLOWERS ←

MOSHERS

BERTHING (IN TRANSIT)

FATHOMS

SCORE FOR AN IMAGINED PERFORMANCE ←

TWO PLATFORMS FOR THREE PERFORMERS, THREE CHANNEL AUDIO SCORE FOR THREE PERFORMERS

← ETERNAL INTERNAL CHOREOGRAPHIES (SOFTLY IN THROUGH MY INSIDE EYE, A MURMUR, A TREMOR)

ABSENCE REFLECTIONS I, II & III