Research
My practice based research focuses how the concept of the Eerie is embodied in performance, informed by theoretical frameworks of spectrality, hauntology, and psychogeography. Through a methodology of re-inhabiting abandoned spaces, performances are created that are responsive to place - to consider what is insistent on being heard/being told again - the ghostly presence of the past as Eerie presence or absence of that which has been excluded from contemporary narratives.
This Is The Land...
This current practice-based research project investigates the spectral and ghostly in relation to the British Isles.
Exploring the question - What truths are hidden in the Land?
More questions arise - What haunts the social imaginary and is insistent? How do structures, systems and traditions shape our social imaginary? Can we imagine things differently?
How does the 'folk' genre function in the stories we tell?
What stories can we believe in?
This is the Land toured to Rondo Theatre, Bath, Anglican Chapel, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol, RITU festival, Liege, Belgium in 2022. The Vault Festival, London, 2023. A blog about the creative process published by the Alef Trust can be found here:https://thefield.aleftrust.org/this-is-the-land-a-liminal-journey-through-performance-art/
Dwelling
Is a site-responsive multi-media performance filmed at a derelict mansion, Poltimore House, Devon, in 2019. The project explores the 'Eerie' through re-inhabiting this abandoned site and attuning to its ghostly presences and absences.
Dwelling premiered at the Anglican Chapel, Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol, October, 2019.
Performers: Leeza Jessie, Alice Barton, Sofia Velez, Samuel De La Torre, Xavier De Santos
Soundtrack: Helen Roberts and Leeza Jessie
The Strange Geometry of Time
What Haunts? Who and what is haunted?Taking the stories of my childhood, and a fascination with the Eerie and mysterious as it has weaved its way through my life, the performance explores what is haunting the feminine?
Toured to Bath Spa University and Dreams Before Dawn Festival, Paris, 2018
Performers: Mary Steadman, Leeza Jessie
Soundtrack composer: Helen Roberts
Research Questions
In what ways does the concept of Hauntology and theories of Spectrality inform the concept of the time in performance?
How can the materiality of the stage become performative in the representation of ghosts, as the Eerie is embodied in stage objects, technology and performer's bodies?
What does a dramaturgy of the Eerie reveal about the mysteries of what haunts cultures, and social imagination?