Performance Reflection No Scent like Brassika (2012) A Solo Performance by Kirsty Shipley

7/30/2019 Performance Reflection No Scent like Brassika (2012) A Solo Performance by Kirsty Shipley

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No Scent Like

Brassika.

The Creative Performance Process: A

Reflection.

By Kirsty Shipley.


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I have to go back, I have to go home, to the place

where it all started, to the place where I started. To

the place where I could sit and watch The Wizard of

Oz on repeat whilst my Grandmother doted on me

That place does not exist anymore. (No Scent Like

Brassika: 2012)

This booklet aims to reflect on my process of

creating a theatrical performance through

ethnographically derived research. No Scent

Like Brassika is a solo performance constructed from ethnographically sourced

field research material. (Interviews, observations and mystories) My

performance practice is cross disciplinary and I borrow strategies from severalseparate schools of thought. These include Social Sciences (branches of

ethnography), Geography (map-making), and storytelling.

Each section within the booklet seeks to construct a view of process and/or

performance through a reflective approach. Mapping processes appear

throughout the book as they are used to organise thoughts, compose, edit,

document, position the material, aid the process and generate ideas. Maps

include cognitive maps, geographical maps, spatial maps and material maps.

I have always been fascinated by the stories of family life which are shared

through the generations and No Scent like Brassika focuses on the strong bonds

Granddaughters and Grandmothers share in and through their relationships. The

memories, experiences and images that lay imprinted long after the matriarchal

superglue/ the Grandmother figure is gone.

No Scent like Brassikaseeks to stand for your Grandmother, my Grandmother,

his Grandmother and her Grandmother. And I hope that as you leaf through

these pages you find a memory of mine or his or hers that triggers thoughts of

your own Grandmother the superglue. My text is flawed not when it is

ambiguous or even contradictory but only when it leaves you no room for stories

of your own. (Mairs: 1994:74) Please Note. The field research participants names have been

altered to protect their identities.


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Christopher Frayling (1993) Considering a Practice led research

Framework.

The artist, by definition, is someone who works in an expressive

idiom, rather than a cognitive one, and for whom the great project

is an extension of personal development. (Frayling: 1993: 2)

I would firstly like to explain the content of this book in line with

Christopher Fraylings framework for defining areas of study through

practice led research. Frayling, in his article Research in Art and Design

(1993)reconsiders the definitions of art and research and suggests three

categories to consider. He highlights these areas as research into,research through and research for (Frayling: 1993: 2) and suggests that

categorising arts based research projects into these three separate

categories aids the articulation and communication of our own research

intentions. Working in such an expressive idiom makes articulating

research methods, processes and decision making difficult Fraylings

suggestions help overcome that barrier and aid the construction of a

practice led research project.

Throughout my process the table I created on the following page has been

a constant referral point to stimulate ideas and boost development. It is

my aim to clarify the research associated with the performance No Scent

Like Brassika in order to encourage a deeper insight into the process of

creating and researching this ethnographically based theatricalperformance. The following table should also provide a guide to the topics

weaved into and discussed throughout this booklet. I would also like to

note that although an attempt has been made at clarifying my research

interests as associated to the development of my performance practice

and in line with Fraylings notions, categorizing each individual element is

challenging some elements could fit in all of the boxes.


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Research Into. Research Through. Research For.

*Old age.

*Ethnography.

*Cabbage.

*Mike Pearsons Bubbling

Tom.(2000)

*Tami Spry Skins: A

Daughters Reconstruction

of Cancer. (2003)

*Interview methods.

*Empathy.

*Social Science.

*Stone Steps.

*Ethnography and

performance.

*Babooshka (Folk Tale)

*Simone De Beauvoir Old

Age (1977)

*Personas of the self.*Qualitative research.

*Norman Denzin.

*Dwight Conquergood.

*Ethnography.

*Interviews with

Grandmothers.

*Interviews with

Grandchildren.

*Mapping.

*Observations.

*Cabbage.

*Performance.

*Play.

*Performance

writing.

*Rehearsal.

*Personas of the

self

*Characterisation

*Voice.

*Action scrubbing,

cleaning, chopping.

*Lines

*Cabbage.

*Stone steps.

*Grandmothers.

*Babooshka.

(Folk Tale)

*Superglue.

*The Wizard of Oz.

*Cabbage recipes.

*Chopping

*Cooking

*The physical effects

of aging.

*Thesaurus

alternatives for

forever and ever.

*1950s women and

polishing the steps.

*Lines*Journeys


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NLP Creative Exercise.

Initially, as an exercise to developing an ethnographically derived

performance, I spent time in the studio considering an NLP based exercise.

Developing notions through this process, before engaging in field research

allowed me to clarify my aims and identify the starting points to embark

on the process.

The NLP creativity exercise, credited to Walt Disney (Dilts: 1998: Online) as

a storyboarding creative strategy, is a starting point to developing a

creative action plan for independent study. It makes something from

nothing using improvisation. NLP exercises poster themselves as ways ofovercoming brain or writers block. This exercise takes the basic elements

of NLP and transfers them into a creative form which helps develop

starting points for creating performance material.

The particular exercise places the performer into four creative stances

through a cycle of thought perspectives. The first stance is the visualizer,

this stance pushes the artist to vision, in the minds eye and in an ideal

world how the performance may look in the future. This vision is then

vocalised through the second stance labelled the dreamer articulating

how, without restrictions, I picture the performance. The third station

places the creative performer in the shoes of the pragmatist, I see this

role as the planner, the organiser, who begins to put the visualized and

dreamt up notions into action. Finally is the critic who interrogates andcritiques the self and the ideas which have been articulated throughout

the doing of the exercise. The performers vocalisations of these four

stances are recorded in the studio space and then played back in order to

make notes and determine areas of interest which may be followed up in

the creative process. The exercise is repeated several times and as a result

the ideas develop. A map of this exercise follows, the map articulates


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some of the main points which resulted from the exercise and considers

my next steps in the process.

A Map of NLP Exercise: 22/06/2012


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Mystory (Ulmer: 1989) as Method.

I began by borrowing methods from autoethnography. Mystory is a

method initially developed by Gregory Ulmer (1989) which suggests the

collaging of three texts as a starting point for developing and presenting

autoethnographically derived research notes. Ulmers method can also be

transferred into a performance context and compliments a starting point

for developing autoethnographically based theatrical performance. Ulmer

describes Mystory as

three levels of discourse personal (autobiographical), popular

(community stories, oral history or popular culture) [and] expert(disciplines of knowledge) (Ulmer: 1989)

As a method mystory provides a starting point to a triad of discourse

based material that compliments ethnographic research and the process

of creating theatrically based performance. The results provide layered

texts and descriptive narratives which have been carefully weaved in and

out of one another to compliment a meaning.

As a method mystory provided a starting point as I returned from the

field. Considering some of my research alongside Ulmers triad provided a

perfect platform for me to begin the process of weaving my fragmented

research together. However Ulmers method is very text centric, as an

ethnographic method it is heavily centred in discourse. Implementing

ethnographic methods throughout my performance process has been

problematic. Ethnographic research situates itself in the written word on

the other hand performance incorporates much more, visual aesthetics,

movement and scenography. It is these elements that are often almost

disregarded within ethnographically based research. Using ethnographic

methods resulted in a textually heavy research outcome. This also reflects


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on my inexperience as an ethnographer and perhaps more attention

should have been made, throughout the field research process, to

document elements in forms other than text such as photography, video

and tape recording in order to gain a varied response. This portfolio could

have provided a constant reference point for the development of action,scenography and aesthetics.

As material to position alongside Ulmers triad I considered the Russian

Folk Tale ofBabooshka, the academic text Old Age by Simone De Beauvoir

and an autobiographical story about my own Grandmother.

The Three Stages of Mystory: A Popular Folk Tale: Babooshka

Research into Babooshka/Babushka/La Befana resulted in the discovery of

many differing versions of the popular Russian folk tale. The many

spellings of the name Babooshka also triggered a deliberate miss-spell of

brassica to brassika, spelt ka it combines the word brassica with

Babooshka through a play on spellings. Babooshka is considered the

Grandmother of all Grandmothers and the play on words hints at two titles, no

scent like cabbage (referring to the autobiographical mystory and the smell

travelling through the room. See Scentsory experience section in this booklet)

and no scent like Grandmothers. (referring to the various smells associated with

Grandmother such as cooking, cigarettes and perfume) I also found variations

of the Russian story across cultures, American versions and Italian

versions. In some of these variations Babooshka translated La Befana is a

witch replica of the westernised figure of St Nicholas/Father Christmas.

The slight changes in the differing versions of the story were used

methodologically in the construction of the following performance text.

Furthermore the slight changes in each story highlight the transitory

nature of storytelling and memory, the multiple versions of the same story

provide examples of a Chinese whisper effect.


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The story of Babooshka recognises her as the Grandmother of all

Grandmothers. Babooshka is a lonely woman who journeys forever and

ever seeking to find the baby Jesus Christ after a visit from the three wise

men. Babooshka is also often wrongly related to Russian nesting dolls, the

doll inside the doll inside the doll, which I may add was the reason I firstturned to Babooshka for the purpose of performance research. The

Grandmother, mother and daughter line reflects the image of three

Russian nesting dolls.

The journey that lasts forever and ever can also represent a long lasting

suffering which goes on endlessly, for ever and ever, perpetually, until the

cows come home, as she sheds her leaves in decay. The path of

Babooshkas journey was represented by the vertical cabbage leaf line. I

also developed a melody which aimed to represent the journey that lasted

forever. This one line melody became a reoccurring theme, on the

Babooshka line, throughout the performance.

I seek to layer narrative upon narrative upon narrative, to create a

descriptive version of the popular Russian folk tale. The story of

Babooshka is a loose platform to hold the weight of my ethnographic

research. I fragment the telling of the well-known story, layering it with

my own descriptive details discovered through ethnographic field

research. The story becomes layers and layers of experiences and

interpretations from other grandchildren, grandmothers and

grandmothers of grandmothers.

The following performance text mixes a variety of traditional versions

based on the story of Babooshka, alongside descriptive ethnographic

research developed through interviews with Granddaughters as they

discussed their Grandmothers appearances and house interiors. My hope

is that you recognise an element of your grandparents in my ethnographic


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twist on the Babooshka story. Maps of this process can also be seen in the

fragmentation section of this booklet.

A frail fragile old woman sits, almost ninety-three lined face.

Alone in her three bedroomed council house perched at the

top of the hill. Her house the one with the aviary once filled

with cockatoos. It has been a harsh winter, wind bangs

again the doors rattling the windows. Never lonely but

never with many visitors in her usual attire, always a skirt

she never wore trousers, in her brown mac because brown

was her favourite colour, blue headscarf wrapped tight. Her

face was never without makeup a line around her jawline,

lipstick on her teeth. She is tucking into her third slice of

cake despite being a diabetic. Her cuckoo clock in the

hallway cuckoos every fifteen minutes. Her wallpaper, the

white kind with the little pots and pans, yellowing from the

nicotine. Her favourite painting hangs above the fireplace,

an elephant and her young. The stars spun from a web laced

with dew twinkle in the sky. When three burly men approach her door, three burly men

who look like debt collectors rattle her door; three burly men with heads like onions

thump her door. Her horrible nail bitten hand twists the doorknob and she invites them in.

They are looking for a witch and ask the lady, with her blue headscarf wrapped tight, to

join them. But grumbling about her nobbling knees, her eroding memory, her arthritis, her

Addisons disease, her once fractured hip, her vulnerability to pneumonia, her hard of

hearing, her diminished eyesight in her right eye, her inability to smell, her diabetes, her

reliance on several medications, her body riddled with cancer, her jittery nervous system

due to the Parkinsons, her inflamed kidneys, her high blood pressure, her weak bladder,

her crooked back and her circulatory problems, she declines. Soon after she sets off out

after the three burly men, the three burly men who look like debt collectors, the three

burly men with heads like onions and she walks forever and ever. (No Scent Like Brassika:

2012)

The language used in this story seeks to enter the audience into a

mimetic contract (Culler: 1975: 193) a way of projecting these images

onto the audience members in order for them to connect these


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descriptions to their own lived experiences, reminding them of Grandmas

house.

The Three Stages of Mystory - An Academic Text: Old Age (1977) by

Simone De Beauvoir.

In her book entitled Old Age (1977) Simone de Beauvoir focuses on the

study of the elderly across social and cultural borders. Drawing on many

examples Beauvoir illustrates how old age is viewed and perceived in both

modern and historical societies. In her second chapter she focuses on two

common views of the elderly and provides examples relating to varying

sociocultural contexts. The first of these views paints the aged as a wise,respected body with mounds of knowledge, the second contradicting view

visions the elderly as a weak burden to society. Beauvoir also illustrates

that these views are informed by the cultural circumstance of the society;

if the culture is struggling nutritionally the elderly become a burden

whereas in opposite societies the elderly are nurtured as the holder of the

stories and wisdom. I believe the second stance relates more to

westernised society and I can recognise elements of respect towards the

elderly within my own family. This westernised view of old age was also

highlighted throughout my role of ethnographer as I engaged with field

research participants one interviewee noted

I want my children to form a relationship with both sets of

Grandparentsthey can gain so much knowledge from them,knowledge of things I wouldnt even know about. (Fiona: 2012:

Field Research Project)

What most informed my ethnographic based performance research,

through the reading of Beauvoirs discussions in her opening chapter,

were her physically orientated descriptions of the aged body.


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The individuals appearance changes and this allows his age to be

estimated within a few years. The hair whitens and grows

sparsethe sexual steroids vanish and the sexual organs

degenerate. (Beauvoir: 1977: 31-33)

Her descriptions informed the writing of two performance texts which

were oriented toward the description of the physical effects of old age.

The first is as follows.

I honour you in words but at the same

time I allow you to wither away with

physical neglect. Lost elasticity.

Shortened in the lower and sagging.

The top thinner and gradually changing

colour. Sparse the growth appears

elsewhere. Circulation not quite

circulating. Wrinkly and shrivelled up

you throbbing bulb. Age determined by

split leaves. Not as beautiful as you

once were, more full-bodied now. Leafyand green. More worn on the outside

but good as new on the inside. Today

you remember not of yesterday. (No

Scent Like Brassika: 2012)

This performance text was also written with the physical appearance of

cabbage in mind. Cabbage, with its wrinkly and aged appearance,

gradually throughout the process, became a metaphor for the physical

effects of old age. Many of the characteristics described in the above

performance text play on the appearance of cabbage and of old age.

Cabbage became a representative of the many figures, grandmothers and

notions represented in the performance. The decision to include cabbage


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in the performance derived from the next stage of mystory; the personal

autobiographical.

The Three Stages of Mystory: Autoethnography: A Personal Story

I have a memory, I am not sure I can remember this memory, I am not

sure if this memory is correct. If I ask other people they remember this

same memory differently, their versions of events differ. This is my

memory, the memory of a six year old me. My version of events. My

personal truth.

We are all there, at the place we call home. The house is bustling as it always is by around

midday on a Sunday. The women are all sitting in the kitchen and they are chain smoking,

cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children, there are a lot of children. The men are

in the living room and they are playing cards and they are chain smoking and they are

gambling for small change. There is a joint of beef in the oven slowly cooking. It smells


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lovely. The veggies are bubbling away in a pan on the stove. The Yorkshire puddings are in

the oven rising tall like the empire state building when Granddad enters. This is unusual

he doesnt usually enter until he is called for his dinner and dinner is a good ten minutes

away yet. He announces he has gambled this weeks rent money on a horse which he

assures Gran was a dead cert. There is silence, no more laughter, no more chatter. Grans

face begins to turn red and she begins shaking and boiling like the pans of veggiesbubbling behind her. She is pissed off she isnt going to be able to pay the rent, they arent

going to be able to feed themselves and they may even get kicked out of their home. She

reaches for the closest thing to her. She throws the pan of

boiling cabbages at him. (No Scent Like Brassika:

2012)

The cabbage bubbling in a pan and rattling throughout the duration of the

performance represented the bubbling and boiling of my own

Grandmothers rage upon hearing of my Granddads gambling ways. When

the cabbage is removed from the boil there is a silence, for the first time

there is silence, the silence echoes the the build-up of Grandmothers rage

as she pulls the pan off the boil to throw it at her husband. I then consume

the cabbage, the cabbage I never got to eat, the cabbage that was missing

from the plate, the cabbage that is gone because Grandma is gone, the

family is no longer superglued. The pan of bubbling cabbage was the last

memory to be represented by the cabbage line. Placing it on the line

became problematic in the final stages leading up to the performance.

Once I had performed the get-in, with the tiered seating in place, I realised

that to perform the final cabbage eating ritual on the floor and as part of

my cabbage line would prove problematic for sight lines. Therefore I had

to make the decision to move the final fragment of the performance to

make it visible to all members of the audience. I decided to move it onto

the yellow steps, the steps were a place that I visualised as home/

Bridlington. Therefore consuming the cabbage on the steps made sense; it


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related to a return home to tell an autobiographical story that happened

at home to conclude the performance.

The three stages of mystory therefore presented a triad of material

which developed the starting points for developoing No Scent Like

Brassika. As highlighted in the previous pages the ideas of old age,

Babboshka and her journey, the autobiographical story and cabbage all

derived initially from Ulmers method of mystory. Again however the

method supported textually based material and provided no indication

toward what we consider performance elements such as aesthetics,

scenography and movement based sequence. These elementes were later

added after the texts were developed.


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Ethnographically Based Field Research: The Interview.

In order to develop a performance narrative, that was

not solely related to the autobiographical, I undertook

a field research project in the small town of

Bridlington. I chose to place my ethnographic fieldresearch in the town of Bridlington because it is the

town I was brought up in and the town in which many

of my Grandmothers, down the ancestral line, also

grew up in. In order to develop field research in

Bridlington I had to go home. I have a connected

relationship with the space and can also relate to theplaces which were mentioned as part of the field research project. I also

wanted the reflections of my field research participants to trigger my own

memories in relation to Bridlington and my own Grandmothers. Most

importantly I wanted the experiences of the several Grandmothers,

included within the performance, to resonate within the spectators and

force them to consider their own Grandmother and her home.

D. Soyini Madison (2012) suggests that the interview displays itself in

three forms, oral history, personal narrative and topical interview.

(Madison: 2012: 28) and each type will often and necessarily overlap with

the others. (ibid) What initially proved challenging was getting

Grandmothers to talk about themselves; many of them didnt want to

share intricate personal details of their personal oral histories with me. Ibelieve this was due to the time spent in the field; if the project had been

longer my field research study would have been more in-depth.

Normatively field research can span up to two years and this way a trust

has time to develop and results in a more in-depth research study, I had

two weeks. It seemed, as I continued to talk to Grandmothers about their

personal oral history, that a lot of these histories sustained a cultural


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FIG 1

(Conquergood:

1982: 5)

sameness. (Conquergood: 1982: 6) Grandmothers wanted to tell me

about how different it was back in the day. The stories I initially collated

were about bathing in a tin bath in front of the fire, having a toilet outside

and having no electric. This is labelled by Conquergood as a cultural

sameness and articulated further in his article Performing as a Moral Act:Ethical Dimensions of the Ethnography of Performance. (1982)

Conquergood provides a map (see FIG 1) which highlights the ethical

concerns for performance and ethnographically derived field research

notes. This view of the elderly derived from my initial field research

discussion appears to appeal to the Enthusiasts Infatuation stance.

Conquergood describes this stance as unethical because it trivializes the

other. (Conquergood: 1982: 6) For these reasons I opted to talk to

participants about their Grandmothers, this way I could gain a

represented view of Grandmotherness from the eyes of multiple

Grandchildren of all ages.

This field research sought to observe, participate and interview

Grandchildren regarding their Grandmothers. (that does not mean to say


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that the Grandchildren were not Grandmothers themselves) The

Grandchildrens stories represented in my research are sourced from a

variety of ages. (aged seven through to eighty-eight) By expanding my

research areas of interest I was able to develop more complex layers of

narratives which could potentially trigger the spectators relations to theirown Grandmothers. By interviewing Grandchildren I was able to gain a

varied perspective of the matriarchal figure in the family and the

representations of them painted by their Grandchildren.

Generating questions was a difficult task, what did I want to know about

Grandmothers? I guess because I have a close relationship with my

Grandmother it was about the relationships. Additionally, because I

believe my Grandmother does not sustain the cultural stereotype we

assume of Grandmothers, it was about the deviations from the norm, the

unexpected behaviours of Grandmothers and their visual appearances.

What is seen and heard and experienced in the field, these are

the nuggets around which you construct your questions. (Glesne:

1999 in Madison: 2012: 28)

Bearing this in mind I constructed a map of the questions I could

potentially ask Grandchildren about their Grandmothers.

This map provided the starting points when setting out into the field

research and provided a platform to trigger conversation regarding

Grandmothers. Throughout the field research process these questions

were added to and developed and some were cut altogether. Some of the

outcomes of the above questions were articulated through the Babooshka

story and other answers, some of which were more lengthy and detailed

were described as a whole anecdote within the performance through my

own eyes as the ethnographic researcher.


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A Map of Possible Interview Questions 19/06/2012

As I immersed myself in the research, patterns began to emerge in the

memoirs I collated. Commonly, stairs and steps appear multiple times in

stories across differing individuals.

Gran would tell the same stories over and over again. There was

one she would repeat, a story from her early days of marriage. (She

married at sixteen) My Granddad wouldnt get out of bed so she

set it on fire whilst he was in it. (2012: Field Research Participant)

I began thinking of stairs in the context of life, in that we start young and

we climb the stairs, we reach a peak and then old age begins to set in and

we begin to deteriorate and perhaps begin to descend the steps. This

reflects my decisions, emerging from field research, to have two sets of

steps built with the aim to place them in the gangways and use them as a

representative of a life journey. However once these steps had been

constructed, they were too large. The large quality of the steps could not


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be overcome for health and safety reasons therefore I omitted one set of

steps.

Many memories of steps also associate themselves to youth. Alan (2012:

Field Research Participant) told me a story, when I asked him to take me

on his own tour of Bridlington, replicating Mike Pearsons performance

Bubbling Tom (2000). Pearsons performance takes his audience on a

guided tour of Hibaldstow, in Lincolnshire, the area in which he grew up.

Similarly I requested that Alan give me a tour of areas in Bridlington (a

place he has lived all his life) that hold particular significance to him. Alan

showed me some steps he would go down on his sledge he said, between

laughs, I would come whizzing down those steps every winter, when the

snow was thick, in my sledge. (2012: Field Research Participant)When I

asked Alan of the busy road lurking at the bottom of the many steps he

replied We didnt care much for the busy road, it just made it a little bit

more exciting. Alan still places a rose every Christmas for a young girl

who lost her life sledging down the steps. We later visit her grave in a

small graveyard where his mother, father, brother, mother-in-law andfather-in-law are also buried. In reflection this interview method was

probably the most successful, although it didnt particularly place the

Grandmother figure at the centre of topic, it did provide a relaxed and un-

pressuring atmosphere and therefore the results were more detailed.

Furthermore Alans Grandmother did pop up in conversation as he

showed me where she used to live as part of the guided tour.

When I spoke to Granddaughter Amy in regards to the objects she

remembers in her Grandmothers house, the story developed into Amy

discussing with me her return to her Grandmothers house after her

Grandmother had deceased. She continued by showing me the innards of

a golf ball, her inheritance, and detailing how she ended up with it. Using a


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memory prop (Aston: 1999: 102) also proved to be a successful interview

technique. The memory prop functions as a stimuli in the recalling of

stories and memories. Amy treasures the innards of a golf ball, which

interestingly is an object that she had never seen until after her

Grandmother had deceased.

When I interviewed Beryl, a great grandmother herself, she told me

stories of her Grandmother Lizzie and made reference to Lizzies strict

regime.

Mondays were about polishing

her yellow stone step, a clean stepmeant a clean home, every

Monday without fail. You didnt

dare stand on the step before it

had dried. (2012: Field Research

Participant) When I questioned

Beryl she told me of the time she

put her foot on the step leaving a

big black mark. I got a wet cloth

around the lughole. Christ it bloody

hurt. The interview with Beryl,

occurred in her living room over

tea and biscuits in a traditional

interview scenario and this may have restricted Beryls representations of

her Grandmother. I was touched by Beryls in-depth detailed memories of

her Grandmother, most of which involve a strict house-keeping routine.

What interested me the most was Beryls fear of her Grandmother, she

knew little of her as a person, as an individual. Lizzie was a strict figure and

her presence required the best of behaviours. Their distanced relationship


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provides a stark contrast to my personal close relationship with my

Grandmother.

Transferring a physical representation of the yellow stone step, as

discussed by Beryl, into the performance space accidently triggered a

thought process which implemented the yellow brick road in The Wizard

of Oz. (1939) I began to view this yellow step structure as home, the place

where my ethnographic research into Grandmothers was derived but also

a home that didnt exist anymore because the matriarchal superglue had

gone. The Wizard of Oz was always a film I watched at Grandmothers

house, she had it recorded on a VHS. This step triggered

autobiographically associated memories as I am reminded of watching the

film with Grandma. Both myself and my Grandmother idolised the Wicked

Witch of the West, her character, her wickedness and the green colour of

cabbage began to be considered as a replica of the face of the Witch.

This (cabbage) represents the Wicked Witch of the West. You dont

fuck with her otherwise she will stuff a fucking mattress with you.

She will turn you into a beehive. She will set her Monkeys onto you

and she will get your dog too. (No Scent Like Brassika: 2012)

Additionally, due to the lines formed as paths, I wanted attention to be

drawn to my feet. By including replica ruby slippers I was able to further

connote the relationship the performance had to The Wizard of Oz

(returning home, the yellow brick road, the green face of the wickedwitch, the stark contrast between black and white and colour) and draw

attention to my feet. The ruby slippers also added to the noise my feet

made as they walked on the path of cabbage leaves. Furthermore the

stark black and white forming of stage left contrasted with the bright

yellow steps situated stage right and allowed for further connotations to

be made to The Wizard of Oz as the film changes from black and white


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into colour. This was not as clear as I had hoped in the final performance.

When I was technically rehearsing the performance I came to the

realisation that my cooking surface was underlined with U.V paint which

made clearly visible, under black-out, graffiti writing. In order to cover this

up I had to cover the kitchen surface with some material. I aimed for thematerial to replicate an older era and to be dull in colour (brown, black,

white, grey) in order for the transition from black and white into colour to

be more obvious. However under the lighting the brown material

appeared yellow.

Throughout the process I toyed with how much Wizard of Oz detail would

be necessary to the performance. Initially I referred to the witch, wore

ruby slippers and walked on a yellow step. I decided to consider The

Wizard of Oz further as material and as I began to consider the return

home I wrote more hints into the performance. However I began to think

of the relations as too obvious, the ruby slippers, the yellow steps and the

coded description of the witch was enough for the spectators to consider

the relationship to The Wizard of Oz.


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Ethnographically Based Field Research:

Observations.

The slippage, into accidental conversations with

strangers you have never met.

Journal Entry 22nd June 2012 The book sits in the

corner, almost on display but privately. It is rarely noticed.

The page naturally falls open onto a photograph captioned

the original Darby and Joan. I have no idea how many greats

ago these pair were, I also have no names, just Darby and

Joan. They are staring lovingly at one another a quiet life of

mutual devotion, loving, old fashioned and virtuous. Whoknows how many Greats they are down the line. I dont know

their names a male voice asserts, my great-great-great

Grandparents orso the legend has it.

Journal Entry 3rd July 2012 I have just come off stage when a friendly voice asks if I

would like an apple juice. She is carrying a painted slate roof tile, I am intrigued. She tells

me that this is a tile that she has taken off her Grandmothers roof to have painted as a

gift for her birthday. It will be her hundredth birthday. We began, completely by chance

discussing her grandmother and the many favourite things, she had commissioned an

artist to carefully and in much detail, paint on the slate roof tile. She begins to talk in

great detail her reminisces of the smell of manure in the fields. Her Grandma loved that

smell, it was her favourite smell. The Granddaughter began to go through, with me, each

little fragment of her Grandmothers one hundred years as they were painted on the roof

tile. A picture of salt, she loved salt, especially in her porridge, and gardening and she

refers back to the manure story. There was also a door with a number on it, herGrandmothers houseor am I making it up now to fill in for the gaps in my memory?

Journal Entry 7th August 2012 I am enjoying a cigarette, on the bench just up the

street from work, I have to smoke here, work dont like me smoking near work it gives off

the wrong impression and to echo my boss who would want to see you outside smoking

and then five minutes later be served some food by you. Not to mention the cigarette

butts discarded by the door. So I am on the bench enjoying a cigarette watching the world

FIG 2 The Original

Darby and Joan byFrank Meadow

Sutclifffe see (Shaw:

1974: 52)


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go by, when an elderly lady supported by a shopping trolley joins me. She just talks I

listen, I am writing this from memory, whether what I write is what Joan said is

questionable. She talks I listen Do you mind if I sit here? I was hoping to get some fish

and chips from Bentleys but it looks like they are closed, I am going to have to make

something when I get home now, I cant go to any other chip shop, I have been going to

that one for coming on thirty years, he always gives me a small fish with chips and scrapsfor 2.00, he charges me the minimum. My name is Joan I cant walk too far because of

my bad hip, its been playing me up for seven years. Joan goes on to tell me about her

husband, she was widowed thirty-seven years ago, with four children three of which she

has out-lived. I am ten minutes late back from my break but I feel like I know Joan, I know

about her life and her experiences.

The heightened level of sensitivity to the surroundings, to what is being

said, to what is happening around me.

Journal Entry 31st July 2012 I am sitting in a caf, nursing a terrible hangover, today

is my birthday and last night was a little heavy. I am listening to conversations whilst I

nurse a small double shot Americano. I have just overheard an elderly lady telling her

friend all about her past week. The school summer holidays have just begun and she has

gladly agreed to look after her Granddaughter who is eight. It is the perfect opportunity,

the Grandmother thinks, to teach her some life-skills and has decided to teach her how tosew. She goes through the process with her friend, how she taught her to thread the

needle and began tutoring her Granddaughter on all the different threads and stitching

techniques after about an hour had passed her Granddaughter stood up, put her hands

on her hips and let out a big sigh followed by you can do all that, but you cant play my

Nintendo The two women laugh at her cheekiness, a look of adoration on their faces.

Journal Entry 4th August 2012 I am sitting in the same caf, it is a place I have

begun to frequent in desperation of hearing something which may be vital to my

independent research project. I am beginning to forget I am a performer and am rather

enjoying my secret life as a spy, hiding out in cafes hoping I may see or hear something.

This time an elderly woman is sitting with her two grandchildren, I believe the pair are

twins. They are bickering as they tuck into a meal of fish, chips and garden peas when

their Grandmother reminds them that being pretty on the inside means you dont hit

your sister and you eat all your peas. The girls listened and ate the rest of their meal,

peas included.


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Fragmentation

Creating performance material using ethnographic methods does have its

flaws. In the first instance the research material covers a wide genre and

considers multiple experiences. However when considered as a whole the

ethnographic field research is fragmented because the method has

required the ethnographer to skip between interviews and observations

with field research participants and in the surrounding sociocultural

environment. The result is similar to what Walter Benjamin discusses in

The Storyteller(1936: online). Benjamin suggests a process of bringing

oddly found materials into play to be creative with such as a web of

stories. The results of ethnographically based field research are just that, a

web of stories When transferred into the performance paradigm the

material lacks connective tissue the research does not fit together.

This fragmentation in relation to ethnographic research is further

articulated by Spry as she suggests fragments might take the form of a

word or list of words, an image, a metaphor, a sentence. Spry goes on to

quote Grande or an idea as they come alive within and throughpeople(s) communities, events, texts (Spry: 2011: 141)

As part of the process I was placed in this creative dilemma, I had collated

the field research and transferred

elements of the research into a

performance context but the links

between the grandmothers were not

quite forged, nor were they clear in my

mind. Clear patterns emerged through

the re-occurrence of imagery such as

steps, cleaning and cooking. I began to

think that by including these elements


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I was again confirming a cultural ideal and falling into the unethical

territory of Dwight Conquergoods (1982) Enthusiasts Infatuation. The

notion of Grandmothers cooking and cleaning also falls into an anti-

feminist trap; we categorize the matriarchal figure as appealing to a

common stereotypical ideal.

Spry (2011: 142) suggests mind-mapping as a

way of joining together fragments generated

from ethnographic research. Considering the

research in the form of a mind-map allows the

ethnographer and performer to visually join

together clusters, themes or main Points

(Spry: 2011: 144) Once these clusters have

been determined Spry highlights Research

(2011: 145) as the next step in the process.

These processes can be seen through the

following two maps as I try to determine the

links between the Russian folk tale ofBabooshka/ Babushka/ La Befana and the

ethnographic field research I collated. The first

map presents descriptions from differing versions of the folk tale and the

second seeks to place the descriptions derived from the research into the

framework of the traditional tale.


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A Map of the Facts: The Babooksha/Babushka Tale. 22/07/2012.


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I began to think of Superglue as a metaphor for the work that

Grandmothers do; they hold the family together by gathering them all on

a Sunday. Several of my field research participants had commented on

family gatherings which always took place at Grandmothers house, and a

handful of these also commented on the collapse of this ritual when theGrandmother figure was no longer present.

Ironically Superglue provided the connective tissue which connected all

of these stories together. The fragments were superglued together

through the realisation that Grandmother holds the family together, the

realisation of the metaphor of the Grandmother as the superglue of the

family. As I began research for the composition of a superglue text I

began to notice that the descriptions of Superglue could also relate to the

work my Grandmother did in holding everything together.

LEADER of the adhesives industry, superglue is SUPER, used toFIXjust about

ANYTHING, It can HOLD a ton ofWEIGHT, modern miracle invention that

CURES, ultra TOUGH an incredibly STABLE adhesive with incredible bonding

strength, an almost UNBREAKABLE bond.(No Scent Like Brassika: 2012)

Superglue provided the connective tissue I required to begin to knit

together the ethnographic and autoethnographic fragments derived from

research. Alongside this knitting together came the connection of the

work to the self, so far the work had become tied up in ethnographic

research. This is not considered a negative implication, but I wanted thework to include elements of the self as outlined in my initial process plans.

Through using superglue as a metaphor and considering how the self is

present in the work, I connected the fragments of mystory and field

research together.


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Voice and the self

The notion of the multiple performing self or persona has also been

something I have interrogated as part of my process of developing an

ethnographically based performance. After collating my field research

material and translating that material into a performance context using

multiple voices, I came to the realisation that the self was missing from

the work. Writing myself into the work, I struggled to determine the

authentic self and how I was going to present this authentic self in a

performance context.

Performing self in front of an audience is I would argue the mostforeign, scary [seemingly] uninhabitable but necessary kind of

performance because self is perhaps the most difficult text to

embody. (Spry: 2011: 171)

As a performer I get really nervous when it comes to presenting an

authentic self, and I normally choose to hide behind a persona of the self,

a self who is very different to the authentic self. This stance mainly

evidences itself through the voice which differs from my day to day voice.

My aims throughout the development of this performance were to situate

both voices of the self, the performing voice and the day to day voice,

alongside the voices of the field research participants I chose to represent.

As Smith (1993) suggests there is no true self at the core that can be

unmasked because the self is a hypothetical place or space ofstorytelling. (in Heddon: 2008: 27)

Embodying a vocal stance that most reflects my authentic self is

something that is considerably challenging for me as a performer. I often

choose to present a voice and characteristics that are different from my

authentic self. Bobby Baker (2001), speaking of her stage persona adds I


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step on stage, I become something else (in Heddon: 2008: 42) and as

Heddon later outlines, Bakers strategies construct a self that is multiple,

complex and perhaps ultimately unknowable (Heddon: 2008: 44)

The use of voice is highlighted in step three of Sprys guidelines for the

rehearsals and performance processes. In this step she suggests that the

voice must illustrate the internal elements of the persona. (2011: 196)

Spry discusses a technique she labels practiced vulnerability (167) in

which she encourages performers to discuss and write performance text

associated with a self-performing vulnerable body. Taking this idea into

consideration I developed text to replicate the feelings I have when I amon stage. The nervous feelings I get when I am performing solo work that

is personal, this performance text allows a vision into the authentic self.

I am alone, palms are sweating, a

tidal wave of shivers is running down

my thighs forcing my knees to wobble,

to shake. My face is twitching, my

shoulders are so high I havent even

got a neck and hiding behind this

mask I feel safe. (No Scent Like

Brassika: 2012)

Nerves are inevitable; they cannot be rehearsed as they only present

themselves in the final performance. Rather than continue to present my

nerves as a weakness No Scent Like Brassika attempted to incorporate my

nervous disposition, and the voice I hide behind as part of the

performance. By acknowledging my nerves I aim to turn what is often

considered a weakness into a strength. This is articulated through

repeated referrals to the truth, acknowledging my shaking frame and


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taking moments in the performance to breathe and practice relaxation. I

hoped that this honesty and reference to the self would help relax me in

the live performance and bring out my authentic everyday voice. In

reflection I believe that these constructions of the self were evident and

talking about my feelings on stage allowed for elements of my day to dayvoice to be heard. It could however do with some more work in the

future. The struggle then, for me as a performer, lies in the construction of

three performative stances; Kirsty the performer, Kirsty in her day to day

life and Kirsty representing the Grandmother characters.

We have to consider the multiple roles of the Grandmothers represented

as part of the performance. When we consider Anna Deveara Smiths

performance Fires in the Mirror (1993) we are reminded of the multiple

personas she represents through voice and characterisation. The

definitions between the characters are clear through her use of props,

physical stance and voice. As part of my field Research I discussed the

repetitive things Grandmothers were prone to saying, I shared with them

things that my Grandmothers are known for saying in a hope that theywould share with me their own Grandmothers known for phrases in a

kind of performance exchange, a sharing of experiences.

Grandmother Mavis would always say ear all, see all, saw nowt. Eat all ,

sup all, pay nowt and if ivver tha does owt for nowt do it for thissen.

Mavis Granddaughter told me this was what Mavis was known for saying

and in the manner it is spelt. By repeating this phrase over and over I was

complementing the many times Mavis Granddaughter had heard her

repeat that phrase. She implied, in the interview that Mavis said it until

she was blue in the face. (2012: Field Research Participant) Therefore I

replicated this stance in a performance context.


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Station Map. 10/09/2012

The Yellow stone

steps.

Five

Grandmothers

from Bridlington.

My Personal story line: Cabbage leaf

path.

Babooshka

Story line.

Cabbage leaf

path.

The cabbage

line, a

grandmother

figure line.

Cabbage Pot

Cabbage Boiling

Station.

Cabbage

Chopping Station.


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Compositionally dividing my performance space into sections allows me to

gain an overview of the placing of material in relation to space. It is a

compositional strategy which can apply to my complete process and as

Perkins suggests

A map becomes part of a story to be created and enactedit

becomes a subjective imagining instead of an objective tool.

(Perkins: 2003: 6)

Each separate section sustains different types of material. The Horizontal

line or path of cabbage leaves for example is where I discuss from an

autoethnographic angle how self sits in the work and also decisions in theconstruction of the performance. The vertical line or path of cabbage is

where I tell the story of Babooshka and her journey which a=lasts forever

and ever, until the cows come home, for eternity. The steps present the

space I use to articulate the stories of the four Grandmothers I am

representing from the field research and also seek to represent home, a

place that doesnt exist anymore. The fifth Grandmother is my own

Grandmother who is discussed on my autoethnographic line.

Throughout the process the definitions of each station often became

blurred and constantly changed throughout. By articulating my stations

through mapping processes allowed me to gain a personal overview of the

composition and which areas best contained each fragment of material.

However in reflection I do not think I was entirely sure as an overview ofwhat the cabbage line represented. Each individual cabbage sought to

represent a different identity or story from the performance. Babooshka,

me, the wicked witch of the west, my grandmother, an elderly ladies face

and sentimental objects were all referenced through the cabbage line.

However I think the relationship between each could have been more

clearly defined.


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A Scentsory Experience.

I am cooking cabbage in the performance space, rehearsing and at least

once a day I am disturbed, perhaps by a security guard, a student or a

technician and they tell me It smells like Grandmothers house in here.

oral history performance and its poetics attempt to embody the

mise en scene of history. Oral history performances therefore do

not function as factual reports or as objective evidence, nor are

they pure fictions of history. Instead, they present to us one

moment of history and how that moment in history is

remembered through a particular subjectivity. The emphasis hereis a felt, sensing account of history as well as its particular

materiality. (Madison: 2012: 35)

Here Madison makes reference to the stability, in terms of factual

information, of oral histories. But she also suggests that the collating of

oral histories is about the added felt sensing account of history in that it

is descriptive and incorporates the senses.

In performance I am always trying to incorporate the senses, as senses are

inextricably linked to memory. Sally Banes articulates this as the olfactory

effect. (Banes: 2001: 1) We associate memory with the smells, textures

and sounds of a time passed. A smell can trigger a remembrance of a

memory of experience that occurred in ones life. The use of smells in

performance seeks to contribute another layer to a semiotic sign system

as Alfred Gell describes somewhere inbetween the stimulus and the sign.

(in Banes: 2001: 2) Gell suggests a liminality associated with the semiotic

system of aroma in that it seeks to stimulate the experience but also acts

as a signifier in the performance. As part of the process of creating this

performance I sought to fill the room with a scent of cabbage in order to


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replicate the autobiographical branch of mystory, the oral history of

being at Grandmas house and her throwing a pan of boiling cabbage at

Granddad. Again I am in danger of confirming a stereotypical ideal which

suggests that all Grandmothers smell of cabbage. In order to get away

from this labelling I articulated my autobiographical mystory.


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Reference List

Ashton, E. (1999) Feminist Theatre Practice: A Handbook. (London:

Routledge)

Banes, S. (2001) Olfactory Performances. (TDR, vol 45, no1: pp68-76)

Beauvoir, S, D. (1977) Old Age. (GB: Cox & Wynam Ltd)

Benjamin, W. (1936) The Storyteller. [accessed online at

http://slought.org/files/downloads/events/SF_1331-Benjamin.pdf :

17/08/2012]

Conquergood, D. (1982) Performing as a Moral Act: Ethical Dimensions of

Ethnography in Performance. (Literature in Performance 5: pp1-13)

Culler, J. (1975) Structuralist Poetics, Structuralism, Linguistics and the

Study of Literature. (London: Routledge)

Dilts, R. (1998) The NLP Pattern of the Month: Walt Disney- Planning

Strategy. (Storyboarding) [accessed online at

http://www.nlpu.com/Patterns/pattern7.htm: 17/09/2012]

Frayling, C. (1993) Research in Art and Design. (Royal college Research

Papers. 1.1: pp1-5)

Heddon, D. (2008) Autobiography and Performance. (GB: MPG Books

Group)

Madison, D, S. (2012) Critical Ethnography Method, Ethics and

Performance. Second Edition. (USA: Sage)
http://slought.org/files/downloads/events/SF_1331-Benjamin.pdfhttp://www.nlpu.com/Patterns/pattern7.htmhttp://www.nlpu.com/Patterns/pattern7.htmhttp://slought.org/files/downloads/events/SF_1331-Benjamin.pdf


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Pearson, M. (2000) Bubbling Tom. In Heathfield, A. (ed) Small Acts:

Performance, The Millenium and the Marking of Time. (London: Black Dog

Publishing: pp172-185)

Perkins, C. (2003) Cartography: Mapping Theory. (progress in Human

Geography, 27, 3. Pp341-351)

Smith, A, D. (1993) Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn and Other

Identities. (New York: Doubleday)

Spry, T. (2011) Body, Paper, Stage: Writing and Performing

Autoethnography. (USA: Left Coast Press Inc)

Shaw, B, E. (ed) (1974) Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, Second Edition. (Leeds:

John S Speight Ltd)

Ulmer, G, L. (1989) Teletheory. (New York: Routledge)

Performance Photography by Elaine Whitehead


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Documents

Performance Reflection No Scent like Brassika (2012) A Solo Performance by Kirsty Shipley