Media Arts: Structure and Meaning

'Listen to Britain' and 'Kids' both create a sense of character and place in a documentary style. How is their structure and form both contrasting and congruent?

"The music of Britain at war" - "the first sure notes of the march of Victory" - Leonard Brockington (introduction to 'Listen to Britain')

'Listen to Britain' was made in 1942, directed and edited by Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister. It is a documentary which captures the character of a nation at war, a nation whose identity was perceived to be under threat. The film combines the landscape of Britain; the sky, fields of corn, with the people who work on it, who in this context become the people, partly on whom Britain's survival depends. 'Kids' also attempts to create a sense of character, for both the individual children and children in general.

The use of music is prominent in both films as a structuring device, however there are clear differences in terms of the creation of mood and pace. In 'Listen to Britain', music is used as an anchoring device, rooting a sense of national pride and identity, which it does in a straightforward manner; e.g., the use of the piece 'Rule Britannia' is played over a juxtaposition of four shots, in order; industrial chimneys, the stalks of corn, different chimneys and a panoramic shot of the countryside. By a synthesis of these filmic elements, there is a creation of currency between them. The landscape, agriculture and industry are seen as intrinsically British, consequently the physical manifestation of these concepts can be seen to represent an aspect of Britishness. So the music is the structuring device both in terms of montage and creation of meaning.

There is also a reliance on live music as a structuring device in 'Listen to Britain'. This seems to root sequences to a particular place, evoking a certain atmosphere; the dance hall, the pub, the concert hall. The first of these sections, the dance hall features a combination of short, intimate shots of individual people, many of whom are soldiers, with wider shots encompassing the entire hall with a wave of dancers undulating in time with the song 'Roll Out The Barrel'. This sequence juxtaposed at either end with medium shots of two soldiers who appear to be keeping watch over the sea. The presence of these two shots implies that the soldiers, representatives of H.M. Armed Forces, are protecting ordinary citizens whilst they enjoy themselves. This filmic movement can be seen to be employing a rhythmic mode of editing, whereby cuts occur in time with the rhythm of the song. There is a congruence of rhythm in the individual shots also, but it is not established visually that the music and the dancers were filmed in the same location.

The third example of 'live' music in 'Listen to Britain', but the second cited, is a performance by pianist Myra Hess. This movement has much in common with our piece 'Kids' in terms of its musical structure and the manner in which it moves to a sense of climax. As the pace and intensity of the performed music increases, so the intensity of the individual shots and the pace of the cuts increases. Thematically, the change in intensity allows for a juxtaposition between the concert goers, one of whom is the (then) Queen of England and workers in a machine shop, which are tonally much darker and rhythmically more hectic. The presence of the Queen juxtaposed with other members of the audience, relates her to those people, creating a sense that she is 'one of us', another important aspect in terms of the structure of 'Listen to Britain' as a whole, that of creating a sense of coherent national identity.

The use of children in 'Listen to Britain' not so much as a structuring device but in terms of intellectual montage and their subsequent contribution to the theme of the piece was interesting in comparison to 'Kids'. The most notable difference was the creation of a sense of childhood innocence, firstly by the long shots of the children dancing in the school playground, the act of dance being ritualised and devoid of any sense of childish play, the sequence of long to medium shots drawing the spectator into the playground. Secondly, the juxtaposition of these shots of children playing with the shots of the woman looking out of the window, the picture of a soldier and the tank rumbling through the street. This juxtaposition does two things; it creates a connection between the woman at the window and the man in the photograph, he becomes her husband and the spectator is invited to speculate on whether she is an anxious wife or a widow. The juxtaposition also ironicises the shots of the children, they become symbols of defiance (as well as the future), as depicted in the single lingering close-up shot of a girl smiling, featured between shots of a tank moving through what appears to be a small town street.

Music is the dominant structuring device throughout 'Kids'. Although sharing this approach to rhythmic and metric montage with 'Listen to Britain', it is in tone and theme that the two differ most. 'Kids' attempts to play on the use of 'O Fortuna' in the 1976 film The Omen, in this context creating a sense of humour from the juxtaposition of the music, already imbued with a sinister, satanic meaning, and the rhythmically and tonally matched visuals, which thematically are comparatively mundane. 'Listen to Britain', on the other hand, uses music with established associations in order to re-assert these meanings, so whilst the means is ultimately the same, the effect is the opposite.

The use of the first two pieces from Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana' in reverse order was a trade between the narrative structure of the original arrangement, and the rhythmic and tonal structure of the new arrangement. In terms of the raw footage, as with the music, it was decided to move away from a narrative approach to structuring in favour of creating a sense of general 'childishness' and secondary to this, a sense of individual character. The opening sequence of shots, which features the diegetic soundtrack of one child singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', intercut with abstract shots of children's feet walking, attempts to draw the spectator into the experience of the children and also to serve as a build up of expectation. So whilst there are narrativistic structuring devices within the first movement, the second and third attempt, through a more rhythmic and tonal approach to montage, attempt to convey a sense of place, time and character. The sense of frustration from a lack of narrative structure, despite the presence of characters, can be summed up in the final shot of the small boy running towards the lake. The length of this shot differs greatly from the sequence that it follows, resulting in a physical reaction; a sense of uneasy relief followed by the frustration due to lack of closure in terms of theme.

Bibliography

Corner, John (1996) The Art Of Record. Manchester University Press, Manchester/New York
Eisenstein, Sergei (Trans. Leyda, J) (Not Given) The Film Sense. Faber & Faber, London
Renov, Michael (ed) (1993) Theorising Documentary. Routledge, London/New York
Sonnenschein, David (2001) Sound Design. Michael Wiese Productions, Not given

Listen To Britain (1942) Jennings, Humphrey & McAllister, Stewart
Kids (2003) Doig, Steph; Hughes, Laura and Turrell, Brian

www.imdb.com

Semiotic Analysis of "Sheba" advertisement on page 86 of the Mail On Sunday's "You" magazine, dated 21.9.03.

This full page advertisement is for Sheba, a brand of cat food. It features a photographic image of a young woman reclining on carpeted section of floor, observing a cat eating what is assumed to be the advertised brand from a white dish. The page is vertically divided into three areas, the central one, occupying roughly 60% of the page contains the main image of the woman and the cat and is predominantly brown in colour. The remaining two 20% sections are rendered in a greenish hue, separated from the main section by two vertical white lines. The anchor text situated at the bottom centre of the page reads "Sheba. In a World of Its Own" and the company logo, with more text describing a new recipe is situated in the top left corner of the page.

The first striking element of this advertisement is the visual representation of luxury, as opposed to austerity and utility. This is the first of a number of oppositions which underpin the reading of this advertisement. First of all the carpet, as opposed to the bare wood floor depicted in the right and left sections, signifies a sense of comfort, as the young woman reclines on the floor, her facial expression and pose is one of calmness and stillness. The brown and gold hue of the central section signifies two things; firstly a sense of autumn, which is also signified by the trees outside the window, and secondly a sense of warmth which again contributes to the luxuriousness of the image. The use of colours associated with warmth and autumn could be seen as a cleverly economic use of colour to signify the warmth of the interior as opposed to what is signified as an autumnal exterior which is, by nature of the implied season, cold. An opposition of temperatures is also alluded to by the green colouring of the side sections, green in this case working with the austerity signified by the wooden floor and bare walls to convey a sense of coldness.

The relationship between humans and their pets is being idealized here in the form of the woman and the cat, this relationship is seen as a symbiotic one, as the cat depends on the woman for food, she depends on the cat for an inner warmth and well-being signified by the "world of [Shebas] own" of the central section. The representation of the cat in this image is that of a therapeutic tool, the upper left corner text connotes a high quality restaurant with the ingredients presented in such a way as to resemble a menu, with a reference to the season suggesting a fashionableness to this particular recipe. All of this embellishment is for the benefit of the human consumer, the Sheba brand is identified as a higher class competitor to others such as Kit-E-Kat and Felix. Such is the reward for the potential consumer of this cat food, not only does the cat become, through the healthiness such a meal provides, as signified by the cats thick, shiny coat, a a symbol of well-being for it's owner to enjoy by proxy (as the woman's contented gaze is directed at the cat to the exclusion of all else), Sheba also rewards the consumer with an increase or a confirmation of social standing.

The situation of this advertisement in the magazine, just after the food section and in the middle of a short story about a waitress, seems to suggest a female audience, predominantly white middle class, young to middle aged, politically conservative, semi professional or professional, the ideal target to this advertisement would be interested in reading (books), society life and all its accompanying issues such as fashion and good food. The ideal consumer for the product would be similar to the above description but would also view her pet as a companion or extension of herself, the closeness of this relationship could infer that she is single or lives alone.

(Image is a screengrab from the television advert "In a World of Its Own" viewable at Tragopan Pheasantry)

Media, Consumption and Everyday Life: A Case Study

The Domestification of Technologies

Mrs A is a 46 year old single mother. She works part-time at a local laundry and owns a 2 bedroom house. In August 2000 she decided to purchase a Sony SLV-SE200 video cassette recorder in order to replace her old faulty one. Mrs A was advised against purchasing the shops (Currys) own brand VCRs due to unreliability, so for that reason she felt it was worth spending a little extra for better quality. It should be noted that her previous VCR, a Toshiba, had lasted 13 years and it was for this reason that she intended to stick to the same brand. However, due to her own lack of transport and the shops not having a wide range to chose from, she felt the Sony was the next best thing.

Mrs A's philosophy of value for money before other more superfluous attributes have led, as she admits, to a discordance of styles. However, the silver VCR now nestles inside a pine tv/video unit, beneath her black 14 inch television, so it does not cause a noticable clash of styles.

Mrs A's decision to buy what she claims to be "the simplest model they had" relates to her theory that the less "bells and whistles" it has, the less there is to go wrong. This also gives her more confidence to use the VCR. Mrs A discovered certain features which further eased her use of the VCR, such as auto-tuning and a record-stop timer.

Such are the power relations between Mrs A and her 15-year-old son, Mrs A only feels she can really exert any power or control over the VCR when she is home on her own, recording films and pieces of her favourite soap opera to watch "when there is nothing else to do". She feels that she has to give in to her son when he wants to use the VCR in order to keep the peace. Mrs A's use of the VCR is more ordered and habitual, in contrast to the more random use by her son. Mrs A will "stand [her] ground" if his intents conflict with her viewing or recording patterns, only to feel guilt and a loss of pleasure in watching the intended programme later.

The only negative feelings she has towards the VCR are those relating to the domination of its use by others, and that it once chewed up a tape containing one of her favourite programmes, she claims this is "sods law". However, she feels that these negative feelings are outweighed by the flexibility it allows her and the convenience of being able to record one channel, whilst watching another, should favoured programmes coincide. To conclude, she views the VCR as a means to freedom and control over when she can watch her favourite programmes and films, but also as something she can really only enjoy on her own.

Media, Consumption and Everyday Life

What kinds of understandings and knowledges about identity and gender have been generated from the study of consumption in everyday life?

The problem with theories on consumption in everyday life is that no matter how many specialised niche groups consumers are reduced to, there will always be a certain amount of generalisation. This becomes even more problematic when one considers the rise of what could be described as a postmodern condition, where individualism is exaggerated and accentuated. However, despite individual choices, theories on consumption often apply to patterns of behaviour which can be generalised because they are non-specific.

The process of brand association is a pattern of consumptive behaviour whereby a consumer will, through the purchase of a commodity, attempt to communicate an aspect of themselves which is in agreement with the culturally accepted meanings of that brand. Of course the understanding of meaning of a particular brand depends heavily on cultural capital, so such a non-verbal communication of the self will only have meaning to those who understand the language of brands. In terms of fashion and clothing, there is a strong link between what consumers choose to wear and the identity they are attempting to communicate, as Anne Cronin points out: "The body can be made, through dress, to play any part it desires, as gender coding is displaced from the body onto the dress." Related to this kind of marketing of the self is the notion of oppositional consumption or brand disassociation. Consumers may make statements, either through what they wear or what they say, for example a teenager in a black hooded top and baggy combat trousers could imply that he is inviting assumptions regarding his attitude to sportswear. Equally, by making the statement verbally "I would never buy GAP or Nike", brands are clearly being interacted with, even though this interaction is oppositional.

Baudrillard's concept of consumption based on the sign value of a commodity rather than its inherent use value applies to all sign related consumption decisions. In terms of domestic technology such as television sets, washing machines and microwave ovens, sign values become less prominent, when compared to fashion. Their role in shaping the identity of a consumer is carried out on a sub-conscious level in a more gradual way. If, for example, a television set is bought, several decisions will be made relating to the environment in which it will be situated. As Richard Ling suggests, consumers develop an aesthetic system which determines the "pride ofplace" that an item of domestic technology will be situated in. He goes on to suggest that consumption of technology also has a role in determining the presentation of the self, stating that specific purchases can be an indication of consumer taste.

The consumption and use of portable technology is a more pronounced and meaningful use of the sign systems of technology. The proliferation of mobile phones and laptop computers is also creating the strange phenomenon of mobile privatisation, of a creation of private spaces in public and a blurring of both the private and the public. Technology is traditionally associated with ideas of youth and the sophistication of humanity, and thus any consumer of an item of technology which could be considered up to date, associates themselves with these concepts. Technology is also traditionally a male domain, computers, hi-fis, computer games are mostly marketed to a male demographic. The mobile phone is universal in its appeal, both as an item of technology, perhaps even as a toy and as a means of communication. Recent trends relating to the changeable appearance of phones could be seen as a metaphor for how consumers perhaps have multiple identities depending on the circumstances. Fascias, ringtones and on-screen logos are used to represent aspects of the owners personality, in much the same way as clothing is. In addition to the visual aspect of mobile phones is the development, through use, of a specialised, language of the text message. This abbreviated language, which does away with certain vowels, creates a sense of rapidity and economy, both of time and of action, the informal nature of this language has youthful connotations.

Most theories concerning the construction of identity centre on the external as a means of presentation of the self, but it is the internal processes which determine these externalisations of the self which are just as important. Media effects theory deals with the role that the media has in shaping the inner self, and Stuart Hall has categorized three distinct phases in the development of the theoretical self. The Enlightenment era theory rested upon the idea of a fixed, constant identity, linked to the concept of the soul or spirit. Theories of the modernist period, particularly sociology, maintain that identity can change over time, depending on interaction with others and experiences, that it can evolve and progress. Postmodern thought claims that there is no fixed, singular identity, rather a multitude of interchangeable ones, created by the consumers themselves to suit different circumstances in their lives. The continuing debate over the nature of identity is difficult to resolve, due to the high degree of individualism and the fact that the identity is an abstract concept, something which cannot be seen or analysed definitively. The negotiation of meaning which occurs with a consumer's exposure to a media text happens in much the same way as a consumer reads the meanings in certain commodities. If a text propagates an ideology which is at odds with the consumer's, then they are likely to maintain their oppositional stance, possibly even strengthening their objections, in much the same way as a consumer with a developed global conscience may reject GAP for ideological reasons.

With regard to theories which empower the consumer over the media or corporations, the implication is that the identity is something strong, with consumptive choices reflecting and perhaps influencing aspects of the identity, but not defining it. It is the theories which believe that consumers are weak minded, propagated by the Frankfurt School among others, maintaining that the identity is therefore easily manipulated to serve the needs of industry. Whatever the internal processes of individuals, consumption choices both reflect aspects of a consumer's identity and determine, to some extent, the perception of that consumer's identity by others depending on their own values, beliefs and cultural capital.

Bibliography

Du Gay, Hall, Janes, Mackay & Negus; Doing Cultural Studies - The Story of the Sony Walkman (Sage, 1996)

Barker, C; Cultural Studies Theory and Practice (Sage, 2000)

Gauntlett, D & Hill, A; TV Living - Television, Culture and Everyday Life (Routledge, 1999)

Skirvin, F; 'Leper cult disciples of a stillborn Christ': Richard Edwards as meaningful in his fans' construction of their identities. (www.theory.org.uk/manics.htm, 2000)

A Short Piece on Antonin Artaud

In many ways the life of Antonin Artaud could be seen as a modernist work of art, full of contradictions. Whilst he was plagued throughout his life by headaches, madness and a laudanum addiction, he produced eloquent and clear writings; whilst he was a prolific writer, he recognised the inherent impotence of words, in theatre at least. Artaud was also alienated for much of his life, both personally due to his illnesses and professionally due to his radical ideas. Any relationships he had were intense and brief.

His idea of theatre was essentially an exploration of the most basic human drives and the sub-conscious mind. Influenced by Dada and Surrealism, he sought to destroy the established structures of both theatre and society in light of what he saw as a failure to cure the plague of humanity, or possibly to cause it. The idea of the plague as Artaud referred to it is a plague of the mind. He felt that theatre had a tremendous power that was wasted in traditional naturalistic theatre and the Comedie Francaise, a power to release the repressed subconscious in both the actor and spectator thorugh a breakdown of the super-ego. He wanted to absolutely destroy the repressive structures of bourgeouis theatre, to resolve everything to it's purest form in order to purify it and create new meanings.

The relationship between actor and spectator also took a new slant in Artaud's theories; no longer would there be a fourth wall for the audience to peer through as if voyeurs, instead the audience would be at the very centre of the action, immersed in the show. The role of the actor in this show was to be non-representative, in other words they should embody concepts of humanity and elements of dreams and myths rather than an individual character. They would be more akin to dancers in this respect, human heiroglyphs communicating with an esoteric signs system, with absolute discipline and clarity of movement similar to the Balinese dancers and Japanese Noh theatre. There would be no dependence on script in Artaud's theatre, instead every theatrical device available would be utilised; lighting, live and recorded sound, props, puppets, setting and a language of symbols, all a part of what he called the "concrete language of the stage".

Artaud thought that spaces such as disused aircraft hangars, churches or empty barns would be more appropriate spaces for the staging of his shows, places where the sheer scale could be utilised to force the spectator and presumably the actor into a numinous experience. Performances were to be largely unrehearsed, as excessive rehearsal would diminish the sense of immediacy which makes theatre what it is. Artaud's ideas were ahead of his time and are ahead of this time, in the sense that his ideas are not fully executable. The technologies needed to replicate the theatrical devices explained in his texts are still in their infancy. This is why film, although more than adequately equipped to portray Artaud's ideas, is an unsuitable medium due to it's lack of transience and feeling of being "in the moment" that only true theatre possesses. Like the Dadaists, he wanted to destroy the existing order of the mind, not preserve it.

Modernism and Film: The Dilemma Corporation and "Hidden Faces"

Film, it could be argued, is the definitive Modernist medium. It dislocates the original moment of performance from its target audience and generates an entirely new moment every time it is exhibited. It is also an exponent, like the printing press, of the infinite reproducibility of art, a process which depends upon a certain amount of alienation, of performer and spectator, as well as raising the question; since a film can be considered the immortalising of actual moments in reality, moments which are transitory, does this make film more valid than reality itself? In our group response we saw the medium of film as an opportunity to explore the themes of dislocation and alienation and were influenced in this respect by the Charlie Chaplin film "Modern Times" as well as surrealist film in general.

The relationship between the subconscious and the conscious mind, as defined by Sigmund Freud, influenced our response. As one of the figures liberates herself from the dehumanised, Fordist factory process, she is allowing her subconscious mind to dictate her actions, superceding any ego imperative to conform to her environment. In a sense, our film is a representation of the battle between the id and the ego, that as a result of her id breaking through, she is alienated both literally and metaphorically because she becomes an individual at this point, however when her ego restates its control, the routines of conventional life can proceed as normal, so the battle is repeated endlessly. This representation of the conflict between id and ego is also suggestive of the work of Jackson Pollock and the role of the artistic muse.

In order to prevent our film becoming too narrativistic, we decided to utilise the editing technology to create disjointed fragments of film and also to distort sounds and images. We used Samuel Beckett's poem "Something There" and filmed two conversations using lines from the text. This was intended to heighten the meaninglessness of the piece by removing it from its original poetic context and turning it into dialogue. As well as Beckett's poem, we used readings of our own automatic writing, which were filmed, separated from their accompanying images and subsequently sped up and slowed down at random. The decision was made to focus on particular parts of the face to further contribute to the sense of dislocation and to suggest a heightened individuality, the parts of the faces similar yet unique.

The location in which we chose to film, a disused art building we felt was extremely modernist, it had a cold, bleak atmosphere which reminded us of Beckett and its previous use as a place of creation made this bleakness a kind of anti-memorial to the creativity which had occurred there before. We decided to record a live piece of music, Edgar Varese's "Density 21.5", in this space to capture its acoustic as well as visual and sensual properties. The piece itself is an example of free chromaticism, written to bring out the qualities of the flute rather than appeal to a melodic sensibility. The visual recording of this piece was again dislocated from its soundtrack. The decision to destroy the video at the conclusion of our presentation was an expression of the conflict between the desire to immortalise a performance and the impact of the one-off act, which is related to the work of the Dadaists and Antonin Artaud.

Bibliography

Artaud, Antonin The Theatre and It's Double (1993 Calder)

Benjamin, Walter Illuminations (1970 Collins/Fontana Books)

Richter, Hans Dada, Art and Anti-Art (1997 Thames and Hudson)

Performance and Confession: Speak Bitterness and The Holy Bible

"For us Performance and Confession have always gone hand in hand..." (Tim Etchells). Analyse the ways in which confession is made to perform through the use of many art forms, making particular reference to Forced Entertainment's Speak Bitterness. Use your knowledge of Forced Entertainment's 'Total Theatre' as well as the 'language of theatre' to support your answer.

The idea of performance and confession as being fundamentally linked, one dependent on the other, raises questions as to the nature of both performance and confession. Can the most basic act of performance, that of exposing the body and the voice to an audience be seen as a confession, perhaps provoking judgement, comparison or pity? The theatrical space is an intensified reality, every word, gesture or movement has a heightened significance, for example; the simple act of a performer lowering their eyes or head could be interpreted by an audience as a confession of weakness or defeat.

It is the apparently random, fragmented and semi-improvised performance of Forced Entertainment's Speak Bitterness that confesses the human condition of the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. A kind of postmodern mindset is emerging where the only absolute truths are negatives, namely; death, weakness and failure. It is this lack of positive truths that Speak Bitterness deals with when attempting to invoke feelings of fear and pity in the audience; fear of the terrifying picture of society that is being constructed through some of the confessions, as well as identification and concurrence with those confessions; pity for the degradation of society that has resulted in the actions being confessed to, as well as feelings of powerlessness, frustration and despair

Any act of confession relies on establishing an intimate relationship with an audience, otherwise anything that happens in the theatre space will be as effective and as potent as screaming in a vacuum. Speak Bitterness bears this in mind as each of its confessions follows the basic formula "we did this". The "we" has the power of ambiguity to either encompass every person in the theatre space, or just the performers. The former makes each confession both universal, as a shared statement, and sometimes intensely personal. The confessions are drawn from a multitude of cross cultural experiences, from those of the performers themselves, to ones imagined, to those of journalists and soldiers who have witnessed and carried out unspeakable horrors in Vietnam. Such diverse cultural sources could serve to alienate an audience, but again the "we" draws everything back to the shared experience. In the programme for Speak Bitterness, Tim Etchells claims "we are as responsible for everything that we see as we are for the things we do." and this could be seen as another reason why confessions provoke a reaction with audiences, they feel guilt and pity both for the atrocities confessed and themselves for their powerlessness to do anything about them.

The use of the theatrical space is also a vital tool for establishing a relationship with the audience. In Speak Bitterness, the stage and audience are distinctly separate, which seems to suggest a confrontational approach to the sharing of confessions. However, as well as this separation, there is a wholeness of space brought about by the use of several hanging light bulbs, ensuring that the audience is lit throughout. Such lighting, combined with the bleak, almost monochrome setting of both performers and backdrop, a blue hung tarpaulin with the text "SPEAK BITTERNESS" printed on it in white, creates a temporary, transitory feel. It also creates a feeling of poverty, both relating to the company themselves perhaps, but also the impoverished state of morality from which a lot of the confessions are borne. The soundscape works with the setting in contributing to this impoverished and awkward feeling, an ethereal, ambient recorded soundtrack combined with the footsteps and voices of the actors. Speak Bitterness is, in terms of audience address through space, a mixture of Artaudian and Brechtian theory on how the space should be used. Artaud wanted the audience to be a part of the theatrical experience, immersed in it: "A direct communication will be re-established between spectator and the spectacle, between the actor and spectator.". Speak Bitterness' audience involvement works, perhaps ironically, mostly through the text, Brecht on the other hand wanted the audience to remain outside the action, in order to view it objectively. Another Brechtian influence in Speak Bitterness is the method of directly addressing the audience, this has the interesting effect of both establishing a boundary, as in "we are the performers, you are the audience" but simultaneously destroying that boundary by allowing the audience to connect with the performers through eye contact.

The fragmented, disconnected nature of the script of confessions does two things in terms of linear storytelling. It destroys any sense of narrative, except perhaps in the most basic sense that a performer begins confessing and sooner or later that list will be exhausted, although one could argue that given the unstructured approach to performance, an almost infinite number of combinations and arrangements could be possible, resulting in an open ended performance. The nature of the 'script' also denies the formation of characters in the dramatic sense. However in one performance, a combination of confessions features the isolation of one performer, down stage, whilst other performers are up stage, a kind of micro-narrative emerges, where the embryo of a character is beginning to be formed. Through the confessions spoken by the up stage performers, which are repeated by the downstage performer, a kind of character history is being created. This idea is reinforced by the performers’ facial expression and posture which convey a sense of reminiscing, of looking back on the past. Hesitation and facial expression are used to signify a reluctance to reveal aspects of the characters past, due to embarrassment, shame and fear of judgement. Such performance details invite judgement from the audience whilst maintaining the shared nature of the confessions. An audience’s perception of what being confessed to does depend on who is doing the confessing, for example: “We’re guilty of homemade bombs and homemade wine. We’re guilty of coldness and spite. We never laughed and we never found the time....” potentially carries different meanings depending on whether it was spoken by a man or a woman. Due to the informal approach to performance, and the non-gender specific confessions, either a female or a male could read them. The setting invites comparison with the conventions of news broadcasting or the press conference, with the long table running left to right down stage and the chairs positioned behind it. This arrangement again highlights the contrasting methods of audience address in this performance. The austerity of the costume, almost entirely black and white, also creates a sense of mourning, as well as reinforcing the idea of a news broadcast, perhaps mourning of morality and of joie-de-vivre.

Confession in the public arena, as seen in higher art forms such as visual art and theatre, as well as lower art forms such as popular music, television and film, works mainly on two levels. Firstly, it addresses the need for absolution, catharsis or simply expression of the artists self. Secondly, it serves to place an idea in the public consciousness about what is acceptable behaviour and to provoke discussion about how people should live their lives. The artist Sarah Lucas' highly personal, confrontational art could be seen as her confession of humanity, of her weaknesses and of her strengths. Her 1994 piece "Where Does It All End?", a blood-red wax moulding of a sneering lower half of a face, with a cigarette held between clenched teeth could be seen as a confession of mortality, a knowingness of the inevitability of death, exaggerated by the cigarette. But at odds with this is a confession of defiance in the face of this fact, shown by the sneering expression and clenched teeth. In addition to this, the cigarette could also signify a confession of ambivalence to the world and even to herself.

In popular music, confession is most often made to speak in terms of relationships, as a confession of love or of a loss of love. However there are exceptions, the album The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers is an example of confession serving both the needs of the creator for expression and also for placing, or in this case forcing ideas onto the audience's consciousness. Its confessions range from the personal; "I am idiot drug hive, the virgin, the tattered and the torn" to the global and historical; "Hartheim Castle breathes us in, in block 5 we worship malaria".

Confessions of these kinds could be seen as self indulgence, serving the needs of the artist whilst the audience is emotionally affected by the confessions, yet ultimately powerless to do anything about them. This is perhaps why theatre or film are more effective and constructive media for the transmission of confessions. They are both, mostly, durational pieces of work where the audience has a chance to interact emotionally and intellectually, although internally, and perhaps go through the process of catharsis. Whereas visual art, and to some extent a piece of music exists primarily in a moment, when that moment has passed, the audience is left alone to process the confession they have witnessed or heard, the transmission of ideas is only one way, from performer to audience, the detachment negating any real sense of audience involvement.

Forced Entertainment; Speak Bitterness (1994)

Aristotle; The Poetics (Everyman, 1941)

Manic Street Preachers; The Holy Bible (Epic, 1994)

Sarah Lucas; “Where Does It All End?” (1994)

Berthold Brecht (trans. John Willet); Brecht on Theatre (Meuthen, 1978)

Antonin Artaud; The Theatre and Its Double (Calder, 1993)