READ THROUGH

(8-page script for 5 characters, FEBRUARY 2016)

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Journey Into Self, the 45 minute-long docu-film about an Encounter Group, features an array of people from varying backgrounds, including the psychotherapist Carl Rogers, discussing relationships, loneliness and being together. I was drawn to this film due to its earnest portrait of these disparate relationships and their emotional pull.

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I transcribed the film and edited it into a script, adapting it to focus on the most featured people; Beth, Roz, Jerry, Carlene and Carl (the facilitator). Once the script was complete (now titled Read Through)
I was curious to see how situations could be created and controlled with it and the empathic responses it would evoke when transposing the original encounters onto participants.

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The first outing for the script was with a panel which featured curators Doma Baal and David Gryn. I took a few short segments of the script which featured two of the characters. I entered the presentation with a microphone and handed a script to each of the panel asking them to read their highlighted parts, which substituted the original names for theirs. I read what was originally the introduction to the film whilst the curators read the parts of Roz and Jerry.

 

The situation that followed was a maelstrom of defensiveness, over-compensation and general awkwardness. I feel that the curators were rather perplexed with the abruptness and intentionality of the act, which was ultimately the perfect reaction. This was a great starting point for the script and highlighted the potential for the full re-enactment at some stage due to the way it was translated and interpreted and the types of performances it could illicit.