The Whistle EXPERIMENT

Concept and performer: Darragh McLoughlin
Facilitator from Laboratoriet: Kathrine Lund

Laboratoriet is a centre for practical artistic research for performing arts professionals. they conduct experiments where questions, methods, and tools are carefully defined beforehand. Results and reflections from the experiments are documented on their homepage.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXPERIMENT

(Text and visuals by Laboratoriet)

''Look carefully at what happens on stage. Everything changes before you know it. A ball drops, someone disappears, the situation changes in the blink of an eye.

When you hear the sound of the whistle you have to close your eyes. When you hear it again you may open them. This bizarre rule takes the audience on a journey through several different, hilarious yet poetic narratives simultaneously, leading the audience to question which game they are playing, and wonder if they themselves are being played.

With juggling (in the widest sense of the term) as the primary language onstage, Darragh McLoughlin investigates the nature of the live performance: the co-dependence between performer and spectator. How does the whistle-technique affect the experience for the audience, enabling them to cut up the storyline and thereby emphasizing their very presence?

'The Whistle' is an exploration of the dramaturgy of the moment.''

- Kathrine Lund

The documentation of 'The Whistle' consists of a written report and a video in 3 parts.

The report by facilitator Kathrine Lund takes you through the experiment day by day and discusses the main themes of the experiment; audience participation, interactive dramaturgical techniques and not least, the million dollar question: to cheat, or not to cheat? The report corresponds with the themes and chapters of the video that is shown here in 3 parts:

Chapter 1 - Creating the Game
Chapter 2 - Who is cheating?
Chapter 3 - Discoveries and surprises