Reversal Striptease
Quintessential striptease music. Performers act sexily, provocatively. Gradually they begin to dress themselves in bin bags. Voice over begins and increases in volume as music decreases… We hear information about murdered Ipswich women. The monologue highlights that the emphasis in the media was that the victims were described as prostitutes first and human beings after. Did the fact that they were sex workers make their disappearances more likely or had they already disappeared? Did their untimely end actually constitute a double disappearance – (who cares what happened to them, what family they had, their circumstances or dreams… they were only prostitutes anyway)
Clevedon Pier
I have footage… holding a camera on a pretty blustery, deserted day last spring I walked up and down Clevedon Pier – I let the camera lead the way and recorded my short journey. I also took photographs of numerous plaques mounted on the seats and walkways: some inscriptions were humorous, some heart-breaking, some full of longing, some hoping to defy the absence of someone who once lived, or who was once theirs. Let’s read these dedications and allow the spaces in between. Let’s see if silence speaks. Let’s invite the audience to create their own plaques… to write it on paper, on balloons we release from the window, to record it on a Dictaphone, to whisper it quietly, to think it as they blow a feather from their palm and watch it travel…
Disappearing Deviants
Disappearing Deviants (DD) is a group modelled on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and is an organisation for those who are addicted to disappearing. It is for those who can never commit to a relationship, hold down a job, stay in one place; those who get a kick from moving on and leaving others ‘behind’; those who (like Lenny Kravitz) are ‘always on the run’. Restless souls and restless feet are a very common phenomenon in twenty-first century western society and we gather an inflated sense of self importance from darting to new distractions which are ultimately disappointing.
For those of us at DD staying in one place and doing what you did yesterday is a form of cold turkey. The thought of it makes our skin crawl.
The performers welcome the audience as new members of Disappearing Deviants and congratulate them on taking their first step (i.e. attending this meeting) towards a more satisfying life, presence and sobriety. However there are pitfalls along the way and in this special meeting the board of directors (i.e. the actors) will demonstrate the numerous ways in which we are tempted to disappear.
Good evening. My name’s Derek and I’m a Disappearing Deviant. I last disappeared on 2nd July 2009 when I left my wife for the fifth time.
Dragon’s Den
A few rich business people sit as a panel to desperate folk who want to escape their lives. Who will they invest in/Whose disappearance will they assist? The boy escaping an abusive home? The Nigerian woman being brain-washed to leave her village and earn money as a prostitute in Europe ? The bored housewife who wants to escape to the circus? The penniless cancer victim seeking assisted suicide? The failed dictator who hopes to wipe the slate clean and spend his retirement sipping cocktails on the beach?
Monologues on Missing Persons
Possibly just a description of a real missing person’s photo, date of their disappearance and other known facts. More about them could be imagined. A series of questions about what happened to them could be asked. Their photograph could be projected on to a surface or the performer speaking.
Interviewing someone who isn’t there
Could be a famous dead person. Reactions realistic as if interviewee is concretely there. What is the question you’d most like to ask John Lennon? Questions could be gathered from the audience before the interview takes place. There could be a big build up to nothing.
Just A Perfect Day
Play 1: A and B in a domestic setting, getting along with their everyday morning/evening routine
Play 2: A in a domestic setting, getting along with everyday routine, but B is missing
Play 3: B in a domestic setting, getting along with everyday routine, but A is missing
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