Author: Jake Lewis Hastings-Eldridge

Framing Statement:

My group’s Site Specific Performance of a “101 Things to do with a Library Trolley” was an interesting

task to think and develop. The idea to work with trolleys stemmed from wanting to have fun in the

library, while also maintaining the original use and rules of the building. The library trolleys themselves

made all of us in the group think outside of the box, because we basically had a blank canvas that we

could do anything with. The first thing we had to do was come up with the tasks, and then split them off

for people in the group. We all decided to take 25 each, with Paul getting an extra one. The 25 tasks I

was in charge of were:

Conversations via the trolley

Obstacle course

Dining Experience

Pac man

Taking the trolley up and down the stairs

Hotel Trolley

Stack the trolleys

Pushing it upside down

Trolley race inside

Sleeping

Play football

Trolley race outside.

Music trolley

Barricade with trolleys

Lion King

Pick up trolley and carry it.

Trolley taxi

Writing a book while riding a trolley and explaining your ride

Nerf gun shield

Rehearsing a play

Mime

Trolley bin

Make a musical instrument

Planking

We performed on Friday 8^th May 2015, between the hours of 9.30pm and 3.30pm. We originally were

going to perform from 9am until 6.40pm, but as the day went on we gained more and more noise

complaints. This was partly due to the fact that our ‘basecamp’ was in Group Room 3, so we had to keep

disturbing people whenever we left the room. Something that we could not help, or stop was the noise

coming from the trolleys. One moment they were quiet, another minute they were screeching around

the 1^st and 2^nd floor.

Due to the complaints we decided to speed our way through the rest of the tasks, and we finished them

all in the room and/or in the corridor next to the group room. In the rehearsals for said tasks, we

identified problems so tried to work around them. The ‘audience’ we had started off laughing and

enjoying the performance, but as the day went on they became more and more annoyed. We wanted

the audience to become part of the piece by inviting them to take part in the different activities, but

most of them wanted to focus on their work instead of a drama performance. Even when we offered

free food, and water people just ignored us. As a group we expected all the students to dislike our piece,

because we knew how noisy the trolleys were, and also the fact that students were writing their final

essays and dissertations. It wasn’t a good combination, but it was something that we had to do and

couldn’t avoid.

Analysis of Process:

When we first started the module, we decided to walk around the library trying to find where we wanted to base a performance. One day after our weekly Site sessions, I and Naomi Jones took a walk up to the Third Floor and we found it very atmospheric. The only thing we could hear when we sat down was the quiet tapping of the keyboards, and the whirring of the computers. This created a sort of eerie yet concentrated environment that reflected the hard working passion of the students that inhabited it. Compare this to the history of the building and it would have been a very different story. The typing and flicking of pages, would have been swapped for the banging and crashing of the Railway Goods Warehouse. From the picture below, you can see the clear time jump between the past and the present. The way they have managed to maintain the history of the building, while also adapting it for modern day use. This combination of old and new creates a unique location for performances. As a group we realized that performing on the Third floor wasn’t a viable option due to the strict silent policy. With this in mind we decided to go to the second and first floor, here we discovered shelving that wasn’t being used and were just empty. We all sat around in Group Room 3, and spoke about the ideas that we could do with the shelving. A few ideas were thrown around, but the idea that we decided on was a ‘Food Library’. Something that fed from the saying “Food for Thought”. We had so many ideas on how to approach this, from turning a complete row of shelves into a mini supermarket, or having the food as books that people had to check out. The idea that we settled on was cutting off a row of shelves in the library and putting a piece of food, with a riddle onto said shelf. If somebody wanted to check the item of food out, they had to answer the riddle which was found in one of the books in the library. We tried the task in class with a group. The group involved Jess, Ruth and Harry, who were tasked with finding a book about a blonde haired girl who falls down a hole into a wonderland. Their prize was a muffin. This links in with the story due to Alice eating a cake. We linked this to ‘Blast Theory’ who’s mission statement is “Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the most adventurous artists’ groups using interactive media, creating groundbreaking new forms of performance and interactive art that mixes audiences across the internet, live performance and digital broadcasting. Led by Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj, the group’s work explores the social and political aspects of technology. Drawing on popular culture and games.” (Blast Theory, 2015) we also linked the food with knowledge idea, because we all agreed as part of a group that students like to reward themselves with food if they manage to complete a certain amount of work. However, once we went to present the idea to the class we were told that the idea was too fun, and that we did not have reasonable evidence to prove that students reward themselves with food after doing a certain amount of work. After talking to Conan, he managed to give us an idea that hadn’t been done before in the library. He told us that the trolleys within the library, were something that were always overlooked and maybe we should try and get them involved in our idea. We were tasked with doing ‘A 101 things to do with a library trolley’. The idea sounded difficult, and we had a lot of problems with not being able to come up with 101 things without thinking of the same idea twice, however after 2-3 weeks we finally had an idea of all the tasks we wanted to do. These were:

Conversations via the trolley

Obstacle course

Dining Experience

Pac man

Take trolley up and down the stairs

Hotel Trolley

Maze

Stack the trolleys

Pushing it upside down

Trolley race inside

Sleeping

Play football

Trolley race outside.

Music trolley

Barricade with trolleys

Bank

Pick up trolley and carry it.

Trolley taxi

Writing a book while riding a trolley and explaining your ride

Nerf gun shield

Rehearsing a play

Mime

Trolley bin

Make a musical instrument

Planking

Train trolley

Food Trolley

Jousting

Car trolley

Dodgems

Create a rowing team

Walk around like the grim reaper

Self-moving trolley

Curling

Bowling

Use it as a canoe

Surfing

Steps

Follow someone and use the trolley as a disguise.

Dancing

Aeroplane trolley

To not push the trolley but get it around the floor in a way

Trolley conga

Card game centre

Homemade theatre system

Safari

Thumb wrestling arena/Arm Wrestling

Magic station

Tea trolley

Stationary on the go

Chair

Make Facebook on the go

Doll house trolley

Re-create classic film scenes with the trolley as your set

Wardrobe

Building a fort

Writing an essay while riding a trolley

Wedding of the trolleys.

Meditation

Tetris with books

Advice trolley

Inspiration trolley

William Shakeshelf

Composing a poem as riding a trolley

First aid trolley

Take it for a walk

Waiting staff trolley

Hiding with it

Cuddly toy zoo trolley

Movie quote

University facts

Check how you look trolley

Use as a sun bed

Taking selfies with the trolley

Shoes Shelf

To carry books

Wrap up the trolley with someone in it like a present

Wrap in book pages

Make the trolley a piece of art

Fill lift with trolleys

Wrap it up with newspaper

Secret mail

Yoga trolley

Place the trolleys out side

Collect objects around the library to make art in the trolley

Fish – Aquarium

Wrapping trolley in toilet paper

Trolley wash

Books out play dough

Paint while riding a trolley

Construction sight trolley

Bag trolley

Replace the books with props

Replace books with clothes

Replace the books with food

Comments about the library

Reading while riding

Great literature trolley

Put a large box over the trolley

BFF TROLLEY FOR LIFE

Just walk around with them

After we decided on all of the tasks, we then had to break them up into which ones we wanted to do. This proved pretty easy, because we did most of the ones we made up ourselves unless people wanted to change. We then had to rehearse the tasks to make sure one they were safe and two they were achievable. We managed to get a few strange looks for example with the sleeping task people asked my group if I was ok because I was just asleep on the trolley. After trialling few of the more abnormal tasks, I feel we began to gain in confidence about performing the other stranger tasks in front of the whole library. We wanted to maintain a sense of fun while using the trolleys, so audience members could join in if they wanted to. With some of the tasks that involved props we tried to use things that could be related to the library. So in Sarah’s task of wrapping the trolley in pages, we used the idea of stories and books to reflect the sole use of the library. With the conversation trolley, I personally wanted to maintain the library’s silent rule, so made the trolley into a sort of text service where each member wrote a message to another and I had to transport it to the intended recipient. This is the link to the final performance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbS_O70DEl0 , in the final rehearsal for the performance we tried most of the tasks like ‘stack the trolleys’, ‘sleeping’ and ‘planking’. With the sleeping task I wanted to personify how people feel whenever they do all fighters in the library. With every task, we tried to think about the members of the public and what they would gain from it. For example, with the food trolley and free water trolley we know that some students get hungry while at the computers but don’t want to leave their desks in case they break their concentration or their ‘work flow’, this is why we decided to offer out free food and water. We tried to link back to the buildings history by bringing in the ‘heavy lifting’ tasks such as carry the trolleys up and down the stairs, carry the trolleys instead of pushing them. One piece of work which inspired us was Cie. Willi Dorner`s project Bodies in Urban Space. A group of dancers placed themselves in certain spots around a city as if to become a part of the architectural or utilitarian structures of the city, thus underlining or contradicting them (Cie. Willi Dorner, 2007). This performance called attention to ordinary items around town such as signs, stairs, doorways and benches. We hoped for our performance to become something similar to this. But on a smaller scale. The point of the piece was to take something that people see every day, and make it do more than just the one purpose it was created for. We followed in the idea of Bodies in Urban Spaces because we only did tasks for a few minutes so people saw it once and then never saw it again. We decided to schedule the whole day to make the whole day run smoothly. This is the timetable for the day.

Event	Which Trolley	Other Equipment		Where	Who’s Needed
09:00	Arranging trolleys outside		Any	N/A	Outside		All
09:10	Washing trolleys		Any	Wet wipes	Outside		All
09:20	Trolley race		Any	N/A	Outside		All
09:30	Comments trolley		Any	A Comments box, paper and pen’s	Ground Floor		All
09:40	Obstacle course & Try and get the trolley round without pushing it		Flat & 2-Sided	N/A & N/A	Any Floor & Any Floor		Jake and Sam & Paul and Sarah
09:50	Car trolley & Hotel trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	Torches, Horn sound etc. & Toiletries	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sarah & Jake and Sam
10:00	Compose a poem & The library trolley		Any	Pen, Paper & N/A	Any Floor  & 3rd Floor		Sam and Jake & Sarah and Paul
10:10	Conversation trolley & Props-on-the-shelf trolley		Any	Pen, Paper & Props	3rd Floor & 1st Floor		Jake and Paul & Sarah and Sam
10:20	Pac man		2-Sided	BOOKS!!	Any Floor		All
10:30	Pushing it upside down & Hiding with it		Any & Flat	N/A	Any Floor & Any Floor		Jake and Paul & Sam and Sarah
10:40	Funeral & Toilet paper trolley		Any	N/A & Toilet Paper	Any Floor & 1st Floor		Paul and Sarah & Jake and Sam
10:50	Haunted trolley & Barricade & Music trolley		Any	Fishing wire/String & N/A & Speakers	1st Floor & Under Stairs		Paul and Sarah & Jake and Sam
11:00	Fort & Drawing trolley		2-Sided & Flat	N/A & Paint, brushes, canvas?	Under Stairs & 2nd Floor		Sam and Jake & Sarah and Paul
11:10	Train Trolley & Clothes-on-the-shelf trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	Conductors hat, sounds of train & Props from prop cupboard	Any Floor & 2nd Floor		Paul and Sam & Sarah and Jake
11:20	Play dough trolley & carry books		Flat & 2-Sided	Clothes & N/A	3rd Floor & Any Floor		Sarah and Jake & Sam and Paul
11:30	Dancing		2-Sided & Any	Food & Speakers	Ground Floor		All
11:40	Stack the trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	N/A	Ground Floor		All
11:50	Jousting		Any	Wrapping Paper Tube	Ground Floor		All
12:00	Dining & waiting trolley		2-Sided	Plates, Cutlery, Glasses, White Sheet, Candle?	Any Floor		All
12:10	Follow someone with a disguise & Musical instrument		Any	N/A	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sam & Jake and Sarah
12:20	Magic station & Card game centre		Flat	Cards & Coins	Any Floor & Any Floor		All
12:30	Tea trolley & Cuddly toys zoo		Flat & 2-Sided	Tea, Kettle, Paper Cups & Cuddly Toys	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sarah & Sam and Jake
12:40	Wedding trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	Veil, Top Hat	Ground Floor		All
12:50	William Shakeshelf & Novel pages trolley		2-Sided	N/A & Pages from books	2nd Floor & 3rd Floor		Sam and Paul & Sarah and Jake
13:00	Trolley taxi & Aeroplane		2-Sided & Flat	Cardboard	Any Floor & Any Floor		Jake and Sam & Paul and Sarah
13:10	Aquarium & safari		2-Sided & Flat	Blue Tissue Paper and Cardboard Fishes & Binoculars, Explorer’s Hat	2nd Floor & Any Floor		Sarah and Sam & Paul and Jake
13:20	Conga		Any	N/A	Any Floor		All
13:30	Writing an essay & Reading trolley		Any & Flat	Pen, Paper & N/A	Any Floor & 3rd Floor		Sam and Paul & Sarah and Jake
13:40	Secret Mail		Any	Pen, Paper	3rd Floor		All
13:50	Pick it up and carry it & Doll House		Any & 2-Sided	N/A & Doll House Items	Ground Floor &  Any Floor		Jake and Paul & Sam and Sarah
14:00	Chair & Planking		2-Sided & Flat	Cushions & N/A	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sam & Jake and Sarah
14:10	Movie quote & Classic Literature		2-Sided	Movie Quotes already written & N/A	3rd Floor & Any Floor		Sam and Jake & Sarah and Paul
14:20	Steps & Shoe shelf		Any & 2-Sided	N/A & Shoes	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sarah & Sam and Jake
14:30	Wardrobe & Mime		Any & 2-Sided	Clothes, White sheet & N/A	Any Floor  & Any Floor		Sam and Sarah & Jake and Paul
14:40	BFF trolley & home theatre		Any	N/A & Laptop, Speakers, Black cloth	3rd Floor & Any Floor		Sarah and Sam & Paul and Jake
14:50	take it for a walk & Food-on-the-shelf trolley		Any	Dog Lead & Food	Any Floor  & 3rd Floor		Sam and Jake & Sarah and Paul
15:00	Arm Wrestling		Any	N/A	Ground Floor		All
15:10	Titanic		Any	N/A	Stairs		All
15:20	Yoga trolley & Advice trolley		2-Sided & Any	Playdough & “Advice” quotes already written out	3rd Floor & 1st Floor		Sarah and Paul & Sam and Jake
15:30	Meditation & Piece of art trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	N/A	Any Floor & 3rd Floor		Sam and Jake & Sarah and Paul
15:40	create rowing team		Flat	Wrapping Paper Tube	Any Floor		All
15:50	curling & first aid		Flat & 2-Sided	Coins & First Aid Kit	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sarah & Jake and Sam
16:00	Gift trolley & thumb wrestling		Flat & Flat?	Wrapping Paper & N/A	1st Floor & Any Floor		Sarah and Sam & Paul and Jake
16:10	stationary & Newspaper trolley		Any	Stationary & Newspaper	Any Floor & 2nd Floor		Paul and Sam & Sarah and Jake
16:20	Lion King		Flat	N/A	Any Floor		All
16:30	Bag trolley & food trolley		2-Sided	Items from Bag & Food	1st Floor & Any Floor		Sarah and Sam & Paul and Jake
16:40	Parcel trolley & Maze		Flat & Any	N/A	Any Floor & 1st Floor		Sarah and Sam & Jake and Paul
16:50	taking selfies with trolley & Surfing		Any & Flat	Phone & ???	Any Floor & Any Floor		Sam and Jake & Paul and Sarah
17:00	use as canoe & use as sun bed		2-Sided & Flat	Paddle/Wrapping Paper Tube & Sunglasses	Any Floor &  Any Floor		Paul and Jake & Sam and Sarah
17:10	sleeping & inspiration trolley		Flat & 2-Sided	Pillow/Cushion & Inspirational Quotes already written	3rd Floor & 3rd Floor		Jake and Paul & Sam and Sarah
17:20	bowling & Tetris		Flat	Plastic Bottles, Small ball & Objects	Any Floor & Any Floor		Paul and Sarah & Sam and Jake
17:30	Construction site & Dodgems		Any	Working tools & Cushions!	3rd Floor & Ground Floor		Sarah and Jake & Paul and Sam
17:40	facebook on the go & trolley bin		Any	Facebooks Statuses Written out & Bin Bags	3rd Floor & Any Floor		Sam and Sarah & Jake and Paul
17:50	rehearsing a play & Trolley Lift		Flat & Any	Play’s & N/A	Any Floor & Lift		Jake and Sam & Sarah and Paul
18:00	writing a book while riding trolley & check how you look trolley		Any	Pen, Paper & Mirror	Any Floor & Any Floor		Jake and Paul & Sam and Sarah
18:10	university facts & nerf gun shield		Any	Facts already written out & Nerf Guns	3rd Floor & Any Floor		Sam and Sarah & Jake and Paul
18:20	play football		Any	Football	Ground Floor		All
18:30	Complaint trolley		Any	N/A	Any Floor		All
18:40	Pushing Trolleys		Any	N/A	Any Floor		All

Evaluation of the Performance:

Overall, I feel the performance went well. We started the day feeling confident but as the day went on and Paul got taken to one side to be told that the library desk had received many complaints I feel it knocked our confidence a little. We decided to stick to the basecamp we had made in Group Room 3 one to save on noise, and two we were out of the way but with the windows people still looked in and were intrigued. I personally was expecting to annoy a few students, but not as many as we did. But as I said before, it’s something that we couldn’t help.

 

Works Cited:

Blast Theory (2015) Blast Theory: Our history and approach. [online] Brighton: Blast Theory. Available from http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/our-history-approach/ [Accessed 15^th May 2015]

Cie. Willi Dorner (2007) Bodies in Urbana Spaces. [online] Paris: Available from http://www.ciewdorner.at/index.php?page=work&wid=26 [Accessed 15^th May 2015]