Cirrus@Austlit

'Within the everyday, performance arises as a constant struggle of asserting the self within the social domain that places constraints on individual expression. Every person and environment imposes a particular brand of civilising influence, requires specific performative protocols or conventions that are measured during everyday interaction. As with an actor on stage, the performer within the everyday endures the fear of being unmasked, of hidden agendas and desires being revealed. Everyday interactions must appear natural and unrehearsed. An individual in the everyday is usually expected to keep most of their thoughts private; they are required to take responsibility for their impulses. Signs of vulnerability should be kept at bay. The everyday environment, as with conventional theatre, is governed by learned rules and protocols that ensure anarchic impulses are contained within clear parameters. Yet the field of the everyday is filled with exceptions. On continuous display is the over-riding desire of people to connect with each other in profound ways, an instinctive and all-pervading spirit that 'jolts the audience' and nullifies social restrictions that stymie genuine contact.' 

(Publication abstract)