We met as a group to discuss finalisations for our work in progress performance on the 21.11.13. The first thing we want to test with an audience is what we should be wearing. We decided each feeder and gainer will wear something different for us to see what works most effectively. Secondly, we needed to decide on the high calorie foods we will be bringing in. For our work in progress we chose a few foods known for being treats so we can get the most out of the experiment. Having already planned our set up i.e. where the table of food will be presented and audience sat, it was now time to discover who would be a feeder and who would be a gainer. We wanted to leave this decision until as late as possible, so chose the afternoon before. Below, I will place a video of the straw drawing process where we discovered our fate.
After establishing the roles we will take tomorrow and planning our experiment, hopefully now with an audience to test we can discover what elements to our performance will work most effectively.
Reckless Sleepers “share the agenda of Forced Entertainment in their rejection of the processes of ‘proper theatre’ or ‘big theatre’ that attempts to present ‘realism in an unrealistic way” (Tomlin 2008, p.361), and their piece Last Supper does just that; mixing real life final words, with those which can be imagined to be true, while all over a last supper. Sat at an elaborate dinner table themselves, “the Last Supper is a performance piece where we invite our audience to dinner, to eat and drink with us” (Reckless Sleepers n/a, online), creating an unconventional performance space within which we currently think of theatre.
http://vimeo.com/64879300
Interestingly, “it…gives voice to the voiceless” (Gardner 2004, online), despite the fact that the performers then go on to eat their own last words. These last words exist in a liminal space; taken and then imitated on stage from actors for whom the words will not be their last, and then being eaten, digested, as though they had never been there in the first place.
“While you might wonder why it’s worth doing, I am inclined towards the view of Timothy Leary who, staring death in the face in 1996, reportedly declared: “Why not?” ” (Gardner 2004, online)
Our performative experiment is dealing with food and eating, so to disregard Reckless Sleepers’ performance of The Last Supper would be unwise. Their intimate setting mimics that which we are hoping to create. Generally you don’t invite a large number of people round for tea, let alone strangers, and this becomes less likely when the topic of conversation is something highly personal. To reveal the last words of those who have died, either factual, fictional or imagined is something highly personal. Often those words are only said to loved ones, or to themselves, and not broadcast for the wider population to hear.
The notion of hosting a dinner party is not something private, and is indeed considered a social event. So to mix a private and public medium within their performance is interesting and thought provoking. The juxtaposition of the private and public is something which we are hoping to showcase within our performance of Feeder. The Feeder/Gainer fetish is a highly personal and private engagement when enacted within couples, so to host it in a similar style to The Last Supper, and framing it for an audience is unusual and adds another dynamic to the established task of the performance. With a contrast to The Last Supper, whose performance came alive by the use of words and language, our performance will have none.
Chewing.
Gagging.
Clinking.
Crunching.
The ominous and deafening silence will have its own underscore. However, this will not be from anything prepared, but from organic noises created by the piece itself. With the silence, the audience will be unwilling forced to focus more on the sounds and noises which occur naturally, therefore drawing them further into the performance. Though this might make some audience members uncomfortable, I personally feel that any other addition of sound would detract from the live performance, thereby giving the audience some form of escape; but when a performance is as intimate and personal as ours aims to be, the option of escape or distraction should be minimal. Our performance wants to push not just the performers’ limits, but the audiences’ too.
Works Cited Gardner, Lynn (2004) ‘The Last Supper’, The Guardian, 19 November:
Online: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/nov/19/theatre1 (accessed 27 November 2013). Reckless Sleepers (n/a) The Last Supper, Online: http://www.reckless-sleepers.co.uk/project.php?id=7 (accessed 27 November 2013). Tomlin, Liz (2008) ‘Beyond Cynicism: The Special Imperative and (Future) Contemporary Performance’, Contemporary Theatre Review, XVIII (3) August: pp. 355-369.
“Society’s relationship with food has not been purely for fuel for a number of years. Hence, the obesity epidemic. In this talk we will explore the increasing complicated role food holds in today’s society, from comforter, to body art and even as a sexual fetish, as seen by the growing popularity of feederism and feeder pornography” (Taylor 2013, p. s221).
Eating and the consumption of food are beginning to openly transgresses from the boundaries of the animalistic instinct of survival to those of sexual gluttony and fetish. In our modern, western society, obesity is an ever prevalent problem, with larger percentages of the world’s population becoming overweight. Naturally, food creates and aids other food related disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, however it the conscious and deliberate weight gain for sexual pleasure and gratification for both the gainer, and those who encourage or enforce the feeding that constitutes the Feeder and Gainer fetish; feederism.
http://youtu.be/NfxFn1IqHo4?t=31m48s
Feeders and Gainers see the stomach as a sexual organ; the bigger and more movement it is capable of, the sexier and desirable it is. In “most cases, at least in heterosexual relationships, feeders or encouragers are men, and feedees or gainers are women” (Bestard in Prohaska, p. 104), and therefore can be seen as an advancement of sexual domination and submission, but this is furthered with the introduction of food permanently altering the appearance of the sexual partner, rather than simply during the act of sex itself.
Although championed and favoured by some, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance “believes that feederism is a behavior based on power on the part of the feeder only, and that this coercive relationship is demeaning to people of size” (Prohaska 2013, p. 104). However, in documentaries which are available online those in Feederism relationships seem outwardly happy and confident with their partner, and not all demeaned by their slimmer partner of their feeder. Although Feederism is slowly coming out of the shadows and becoming better known within wider society, it is still seen as a taboo (as are many sexual fetishes).
Those who judge the fetish from the outside often view it as ““an underground sexual practice that involves women who allow themselves to be force-fed through a funnel by a dominant male master, who derives sexual excitement from watching his submissive servant grow fatter as he forces her to eat more and more”” (Murray quoted in Prohaska 2013, p. 105), however, those who are are active within this underground community feel “the need to keep their behaviors a secret to family members and other significant people in their offline lives (Bestard in Prohaska 2013, p. 105). When these hidden relationships are broadcast for the whole of society to witness, they are often met by ridicule from those who don’t understand the sexual desires behind the fetish. Despite this, there is a large online community, which has a further reach than that of a private couple; where people can pay to speak to and see these Gainers on an intimate basis (source: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-big-fat-fetish/4od).
The use of food, being fed, and high calorie food played a heavy influence on our final experiment. Admittedly, we are not fully exploring the sexual fetish of Feederism; this is impossible for us, and any attempt of it would be a poor and disrespectful imitation – we are not sexually attracted to one another, and we do not hold food in the same sexual regard as those within the Feederism orientation. Instead, we are taking the frame of Gainers and Feeders to guide our experiment and help shape our relationships between our own established ‘feeders’ and ‘gainers’. The Gainers are pushed beyond their comfortable limits when being fed, and this is something which we wish to re-create.
Three people feeding, and three being fed. With no control over what goes into their mouth, or in what quantity.
Works Cited
Taylor, Valerie H. (2013) ‘Food Fetish: Society’s Complicated Relationship with Food’, Canadian Journal of Diabetes, XXXVII (2) April: p. s221.
Prohaska, Ariane (2013) ‘Feederism: Transgressive Behavior or Same Old Patriarchal Sex?’, International Journal of Social Science Studies, I (1) June, pp. 104-112)
When thinking of a performance or experiment, I was instantly drawn towards the idea of a task. Completing a task, or setting a physical challenge that had to be completed, despite obstacles or impediments which may affect the process. When thinking of a task, a durational performance offers much more to both performer and audience member, than one which is time restrained. “The phrase ‘durational art’ implies a specific construction of time, a deliberate shaping of it to effect a particular experience for the viewer or the audience” (Scheer 2012, p.1), and it is the construction or deconstruction of time which I believe has the possibility to hold the most performance potential.
Melati Suryodarmo’s ‘Butter Dance’ experimental performance, although uncomfortable to watch, made for fascinating and compelling viewing. Every time she falls you inwardly gasp, wondering if she is going to get back up again; if anything is broken or if she will just give up on her set task because the pain and bruises become too much.
This performance of (as a concept) a simple task is captivating. No façade or artsy pretence; just one woman deciding to dance on butter, in heels, to the beat of a steady rhythm. Experimental performances such as these “mark identities, bend time, reshape and adorn the body, and tell stories” (Schechner 2002, p. 28), even without a vocal narrative. And this is something I wanted to explore further; to have a task set, and for it to be completed in front of an audience. The first idea which materialised within the group was that of completing a jigsaw.
(Photo taken by Lauren Watson: 28.10.13)
Initially, we wanted to develop this idea into a more performative piece, with the use of multiple jigsaws (one for each member of the company to complete), while all being in one pile, with us not being able to leave the space until your own jigsaw was completed. However, after just 40 minutes of attempting and failing to complete just one 1000 piece jigsaw between the six of us, this idea quickly dissipated. Although it started off as a novel and slightly entertaining task, our excitement and positive outlook quickly disappeared, and in its place we were left with fits of anger, an almost constant stream of expletives and multiple urges to throw the puzzle pieces out out of any window we could find.
(Photo taken by Andrew Tinley: 31.10.13)
With the jigsaw idea well and truly buried for the sanity of everyone involved, we then turned to food, and the idea of feeding and being fed. For our first experiment we each brought two items of food; one which we liked, and one which we hate. We then placed all these items on a table, and got an impromptu audience member to give each one of us an item of food.
Russian Roulette with food.
As seen in the above image, not everyone received foods they liked or bought for themselves. For this experiment to work, it was imperative that the ‘audience member’ didn’t know our likes and dislikes, this way they could not be biased when handing out the food. From this experience, the magnitude of what we wanted to achieve really started to make itself apparent. Eating is a day-to-day task, without which we wouldn’t survive…but what happens if we over indulge in this life saving task; forcing ourselves to eat food which repulsed us. Even though this experiment lasted merely minutes it was a difficult process, with members of the group retching and fighting down sick. Even though this would make for a personally difficult experiment for us as performers, it wouldn’t be all that stimulating or enjoyable for the audience. Therefore, from this experiment we decided to choose foods which we liked, but to eat them in abundance.
Theatre, and especially contemporary experimental performance “have been deployed as key metaphors and practices with which to rethink gender, economics, war, language, the fine arts, culture and one’s sense of self” (Ridout 2009, p. vii), and this is hopefully what we hope to achieve, although physically we are just completing a task which we have all agreed upon; to eat. Eating is a necessity. A vital part to any life. However, some people go days without eating, while other gorge themselves to death. And for 6 average sized girls to potentially gorge themselves to the point of sickness starts to question the social position of food, alongside that of young women, while also on one level questioning and challenging body image acceptance. Why would six, healthy girls who care about their image and size want to binge? These are questions which we hope the audience wills start to ask themselves, after all, “to witness an event is to be present at it in some fundamentally ethical way, to feel the weight of things and one’s own place in them, even if that place is simply, for the moment, as an onlooker” (Etchells 1999, p. 17).
Works Cited
Etchells, Tim (1999) Certain Fragments, London: Routledge.
Ridout, Nicholas (2009) Theatre & Ethics, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schechner, Richard (2002) Performance Studies: an introduction, London: Routledge.
Scheer, Edward (2012) ‘Introduction: The end of spatiality or the meaning of duration’, Performance Research: A Journal of the Performing Arts, XVII (5) October: pp. 1-3.
