During my attendance at the Theatre Materials conference I met a company called Present Attempt that were developing a new play called life at the molecular level. They opened their rehearsal to the conference where we were able to sit in and have input on the development of the show. The show was developed through applying constraints to a series of improvisations over about a day and a half. One of the constraints or rules was that anything small that was noticed by a performer should be amplified and exagerated. The show that they ended up producing was fabulous and almost seemed like a digital manipulation. Using very few props such as a microwave and a kareoke machine they told a story while recreating the strange behaviour of when you are all alone. This created an intimate and uncomfortable relationship with the audience.
Also these fancy people have a rehearsal blog…Seems like we are on the same wavelength 
Discussion/ Future Projects
I think that scripting projects via setting constraints is a great way to play with ritual and to comment on the mechanics of digital technologies and the technologies of social interaction and art. I wanted to mention this group as I think that questioning rituals and the making of space could be done through setting up games which required that we perform according to new rules. This is what made me start thinking of games that might be played besides a hunt in order to reinterpret the city and set the stage for live collaborative development.
I was also thinking about how mechanical algorithms could be used to guide movements. I know that Caroline has a formula from K-punk which causes participants to bump into each other from different starting points. Could be a nice editing project if each participant had a camera.
All photos courtesy of present attempt
