Based in Bristol and Nottingham, the performance group Bodies in Flight makes works where flesh utters and words move, challenging and re-energizing the relationship between audiences and performers as well as audiences and place.
Drawing on rigorous interdisciplinary and collaborative methods, they use words and images, movement and stillness, and voices and bodies to engage audiences emotionally and spiritually.
Intended as an inspiration to emerging artists, the volume covers key themes for any maker of contemporary performance: the relationship of choreography and spoken word; the use of new technologies and multimedia; the role of original music and soundscapes; the differences between work presented in a theater, gallery, or sited in non-theatrical places; and the persistence of theater as an art form in an increasingly digital culture.
This highly illustrated volume includes selections of scripts and archival material from thirty years of making devised theater and performance in the UK and internationally. It also features texts by collaborators, arts professionals, and scholars exploring the company’s collaborative working method, contextualizing it in the wider performance ecology and culture.
Table of Contents
ABOUT BODIES IN FLIGHT
SIMON JONES
MARKING THE TIMES: EXPERIENCING BODIES IN FLIGHT
FOREWORD BY ANDREW QUICK
UNCONCEALING THIS MAKER’S VOICE
SARA GIDDENS
1989-1995: THE FIRST SERIES: PERFORMANCE AS ENERGY, IDEAS AND PROVOCATION
DEADPLAY (1989)
PLAYING DEAD … BECOMING PROFESSIONAL
RACHEL FEUCHTWANG
EXHIBIT (1990)
CONTROLLED CHAOS
BARNABY POWER
LOVE IS NATURAL AND REAL BUT NOT FOR YOU MY LOVE (1990)
MY (OTHER) OTHER COLLABORATOR: PHILOSOPHY ALONGSIDE PRACTICE
SIMON JONES
iwannabewolfman(1991-92)
WORKING ALONGSIDE
SARA GIDDENS
ROUGH (1992-93)
FROM FAN-BOY TO PROGRAMMER – MEMORIES OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH BODIES IN FLIGHT
RICHARD DUFTY
AS IF FOR THE FIRST TIME
GRAEME ROSE
SPEAKING IN TEXTS: WRITING BEYOND MEANING
SIMON JONES
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS (1994)
HEARING BODIES IN FLIGHT
DARREN BOURNE
LITTLUNS WAKE (1995)
1996-2009: THE SECOND SERIES: PERFORMANCE AS (NON-)COLLABORATION ACROSS MEDIA
DO THE WILD THING! (1996)
THE MAGNIFICENT MINUTIAE
SARA GIDDENS
CONSTANTS (1998)
SET-UP AND SITUATION – DRAMATURGY AS TRANSFORMATION
SIMON JONES
DELIVERUS (1999-2000)
A DIALOGUE AT THE GLOBE THEATRE (LONDON)
POLLY FRAME in conversation with SIMON JONES
DIALOGUES & DUETS
JOSEPHINE MACHON
DOUBLE HAPPINESS (2000)
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS RE-WORKED
KAYLENE TAN
FLESH & TEXT, a document (2001)
SKINWORKS (2002-3)
BEING IN-BETWEEN: COLLABORATION AS NON-COLLABORATION
SIMON JONES
WHO BY FIRE (2004-5)
WHO BY FIRE: VERY SLOW DECAY
SLEEPDOGS: TANUJA AMARASURIYA and TIM X ATACK in conversation
TRIPTYCH (2005)
THE TRANSMEDIATED IMAGE
TONY JUDGE
THE SECRECY OF SAINTS (2006)
MODEL LOVE (2008-11)
RENDERING VISIBLE
PAUL GEARY
FINDING SUSPENSION
SARA GIDDENS
PERFORMANCE/ PHOTOGRAPHY/ PHOTGRAPHY/ PERFORMANCE [AND ON/ AND ON]
EDWARD DIMSDALE
HYMN (2009)
2009-PRESENT: THE THIRD SERIES: OPENING OUT TOWARDS CO-CREATING THE PORTFOLIO WORK
DREAM?WORK/ DREAM?WALK (2009-16)
GYMNAST (2011-13)
A PLACE THAT IS INTELLIGENT, A LITTLE BIT PUNK EVEN … BUT ALWAYS HUMAN
SUZANNAH BEDFORD
MAYFEST AND MAYK: FROM FESTIVAL TO CO-CREATION
MATTHEW AUSTIN in conversation with SIMON JONES
DO THE WILD THING! REDUX (2012)
STILL MOVING: MOVING STILL (2012-18)
DEVELOPING A PORTFOLIO
SARA GIDDENS
LIFE CLASS (2019-22)
MAKING AND BREAKING, FAILING AND FAKING
MORVEN MACBETH
THE DARE OF OTHER VOICES – FROM VERBATIM TO CO-CREATION
SIMON JONES
UNBOX ME! (2023)
AFTERWORD
PAUL RUSS
POSTSCRIPT
SIMON JONES
INDEX