The Site

Location of the Site
The Site for which myself and other members of "The Shizzle" Theatre company chose for our "Site Specific" performance piece is located in a small corridor that leads to the back stage of rooms, 413 and 415 in the Theatre Block of The Brit School. It's unique for its condensed and cramped nature which makes it a useful "hiding spot" and devising area for creating work true to the qualities of the Site. As opposed to other spaces in and/or around the BRIT School, this Site is at first glance hard to find, which makes it a unique and interesting place to devise a piece of Site Specific Performance.

Properties of the Site chosen
The three fire escape doors located on either side of the Site provide performance capabilities for us as a company, in that we can find ways of incorporating  the opening/closing of the doors into our devised piece as a way of symbolising entrapment and seclusion which can be shown through placing a performer behind one of the doors.The light switch on the left hand side of the Site entrance, provides technical capabilities for performance, allowing us as performers to use the lighting as a means of creating atmosphere and tension which will give an element of "theatrics" to our performance. In symbolising claustrophobia and paranoia, we could also switch the lights on/off. The lights also provide the opportunity to experiment with shadows and reflection, whilst the hard carpet on the floor provides opportunities for experimenting with friction and tension which could be useful in signifying "rough" times and the difficulty in relieving pressure, which will be explored through our devising material. 
The bench located right near to the entrance of the Site, will allow us as performers to experiment with levels and hierarchy and the pressure of an "oppressor".

Qualities of the Site chosen

The Site is very confined and restricted in space, which gives rise to feelings of claustrophobia. The darkness within the Site provides opportunities to experiment with controversial subject matter that may be depressing and also uncomfortable in nature and which will coincide with the natural atmosphere of the Site. The dark and confined nature of the Site also allows us to enforce the eerie and melancholic atmosphere that shrouds every corner of the performance space, which emits feelings of tension and vulnerability. As a whole, the Site is dark, enclosed, claustrophobic, eerie, silent and cosy which allows us as Theatre makers to create a piece which includes all of these performance elements. Through the "tight" and "enclosed" nature of the space for which we will be devising, the Site also emits the feelings of being "alone" and "trapped".

The doors of the Site are all black and parallel
to one another. The dark nature of the space in itself,
allows us as artisans to explore the dark and mysterious
themes this Site may hold. In exploring these themes further,
we could also use the doors as a means of trapping fellow performers
in order to further embrace the themes of "seclusion" and "entrapment".

The Ceiling within the Site is also dark
which blends in with the rest of the
dark space. The darkness also creates
the illusion of the ceiling appearing
never-ending. In terms of devising material, 
the darkness within the space, could be used to
embody "nausea" and the "fear of the unknown". 

The dark material that covers the floor within the Site
is "gritty" and "rough".The carpet blends in with the dark
colours of the Site and provides an uneven, disturbing
texture to the qualities of the Site which could be further
explored through the idea of "panic" and "confusion".