Live Zoom Performance: PRESS PLAY: A DAY OUT WITH RUFUS (28/02/21)

 

Live Zoom Performance: PRESS PLAY: A DAY OUT WITH RUFUS (28/02/21) www.onlineperformanceart.com, 7pm UK / BST time and 6pm UTC Audience comments: ‘It’s just so funny, using your jumper to dry the dog!’ ‘Love the mixed media & humour’ ‘Such an amazing use of visuals and multimedia!’ ‘Lee, don’t share the bonds like he and Alex together’’ A rhymical piece with a sweet lyrical feel. You’re a master at rhyme. Lovely flow and delivery’ ‘Wonderful stuff, Lee, some of the best rhyming couplets I've heard in a while!’ ‘Words and dog sketches blended so well’ 'Go Rufus! Love the way you weave the sketches, the audio and the words. So engaging. 'I love the combination of body and drawings, the rhythm of your voice(s) and the humour!' This performance poem is an exploration into gay male coupledom and the quotidian, PRESS PLAY: A DAY OUT WITH RUFUS relates to what me and my partner Alex remember about a shared experience: a day out with Rufus the dog, the dog we often dog-sit. As individual memories aren’t always shared, the conversation might reveal some startling yet humorous differences in terms of each person’s recollection. Creating a bridge between video and performance, drawings of Rufus that I have made over the course of a few years appear projected onto my body, giving the impression of text and imagery superimposed over my body as a screen/projection space; that I am wearing text/imagery like a garment and of a body that has been layered with fragments of images/history. This effect is achieved through the green-screen effect on Zoom to really push Zoom’s visual aesthetics as a means to frame, act as a visual container and play with different levels of order and chaos through the visual confinement achieved. My body constantly comes in and out of the green screen; my body keeps getting subsumed and emerging again. A tape recorder acts as an extension of my body and offers another set of voices ( those of Alex’s) to that of mine performing and other voices heard elsewhere. An ongoing tension between me and Rufus unfolds throughout the performance as if he’s taking over my body and taking over my relationship with Alex.