Going through the process of Indecent Exposure

University of Bristol's Third Year Devised Performance at the Wickham Theatre

Indecent Exposure (2017), a production that draws from Forced Entertainment's performance of Bloody Mess (2004) through performers who attempt to follow the rules, or fail to succeed in doing normal and peculiar tasks. These factors brought our devised work of Indecent Exposure to its feet as well as metaphorically and physically knocking the performers down to the ground.

The process for Indecent Exposure was insightful by having conversations on the ridiculous circumstances that occur in gameshows, which also allowed us to fuse contemporary and burlesque performance styles with dark comedy. The foundation of Indecent Exposure became established by thinking about pageant and dating shows, and then an evident parody of the two. As part of the cast, we were split into two groups and continued to discuss or practice of certain tv shows (think X-factor and Naked Attraction). In our two performances, whether or not you understood it all, you would see us behave as contestants in games, such as musical chairs or Simon says. When the music plays, we had to dance, and the rules became clearer in our growing level of aggression or desperation to win the unknown prize.

The mix of serious and shallow elevated into our own theatrical version of the Black Mirror Netflix series. Incorporating burlesque, ballroom dances and slapstick in dystopian background were opportunities to play with the self and our audience. Indecent Exposure thereon became a competitive pageant-talent dating show parody where two very different programs started to seep into each other's realities. Humour and darkness only grew by both satirising our individual real-life contestants of inspiration and shaming the qualities about ourselves.

The idea of how can we ridicule 'acts', and which constantly came into questioning. I noted that in ridiculing a person's odd characteristic could be as simple as repeatedly moving your shoulders, or making rude remarks to commentate on the spoiled-sports that appear on gameshows (ie Britain's Got Talent). Here, persistence exaggeration were key in a performer's act while convincing others that they were 'amazing' in their failing impression.

Certainly, performing in Indecent Exposure was a vulnerable experience. You can infer this feeling from the title as there was a lot of revealing the self physically and mentally. While I found that time and effort became assets to help reveal myself on stage, I also found that it is okay to acknowledge your genuine discomfort. As an actor may mask their true feelings on stage, the process and experience became almost mind-boggling to do the exact opposite.