“Experimental theatre has always sought other venues. This is not solely through expediency, but to challenge the notion that the auditorium is a neutral vessel of representation, and see it rather as the spatial machine of a dominant discourse which distances spectators from spectacle and literally ‘keeps them in their place’, in the dark, sitting in rows, discouraging eye contact and interaction.”

(Pearson, M. (1997), ‘Special Worlds, Secret Maps: A Poetics of Performance’, in Taylor, A. (ed.), Staging Wales: Welsh Theatre 1979-1997, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1997, 85-99, 94

The George Centre, Grantham, was erected on the site of the old George Hotel – once an impressive local hostelry built in 1780 – and still retains many of its fine features including the Oriel windows, carved staircase and cornices. In 1990 the site was converted into an indoor shopping centre, using the architectural splendour of the former hotel, which is now a listed building. Although the George Hotel was built during the reign of George III – following a fire which wiped out many properties in that area – there had been a hostelry on the site for at least three centuries before that. As a coaching inn, the George was a popular overnight stop between London and the North, endorsed by Charles Dickens who in Nicholas Nickleby described it as one of the finest inns in England. Grantham is a growing market town with a population of approximately 35,000 and a catchment area of 85,000. Ideally situated in the heart of the East Midlands, Grantham sits on the junction of the A1 and A52. Nottingham, Leicester and Peterborough are all within a 40 mile radius and London is approximately 75 minutes away by high-speed train from Grantham railway station.

(Pearce, H. (2012). The George and Grantham. Available: http://www.thegeorgecentre.com/thegeorge.htm. Last accessed 28th Feb 2014.)

As a result of being given disused shops within the centre to perform in, one of the major obstacles to tackle would be audience movement and interaction, how to encourage the audience to enter and become part of out performance, with ‘no formal arrangement of performers and audience.’ (Pearson, 2013, 156). This kind of freedom within a performance gives both parites an entirely individual perspective and experience, depending on where they are situated.  Breaking down the boudaries of audience performer space really excites me, especially as we are hopefully working with the concept of manipulating ones eyesite in order to appear to be defying gravity.