National Theatre, Watch This Space Festival – Peckham Performance
It may seem counter intuitive to think that, the best place to hide or lead an anonymous life is a large city like London, with a population of 8 million. But when you consider the hectic pace of life and other factors, such as the fact that Londoners hardly talk to each other (at least not in the tube or on buses), London is actually the best place in the country for someone who is seeking anonymity, to live.
A Londoner, who was once seduced by the charms of rural idyll went to live in a village for a couple of years, on his return to London said he prefers the anonymity of London, “In the two years I lived in the village, I knew everyone’s business and they all knew mine”. He finds this level of familiarity to be too great, and was pleased to get back to London.
Some people welcome the anonymity of the capital city, while others think it’s something that should be changed. Whichever side of the debate you are on, one thing you will find difficult to resist, is the non-London like behaviour of talking to other Londoners in a public place (except to apologise when you bump into someone or they into you). For a brief session, lasting about 45 minutes or so, ‘National Theatre’s Watch This Space’ Festival completely change the behaviour of Londoners.
National Theatre Watch This Space Festival
National Theatre Watch This Space – Peckham Square
In Peckham Square, a group of performers stretched out a hand to invite onlookers to join them. As each volunteer joined a performer, the volunteer was invited to lie down next to the performer, using the performer’s case as a pillow. The author of this piece volunteered to join a performer who he tried to engage in conversation, but the performer just smiled and did not talk. After lying down for what seemed like a few minutes, the performer got up, and, motioning for the author to stay put, he returned with a new volunteer who took his place.
The performer went away again, returning with yet another volunteer, this time, the new volunteer was invited to lie below the author, using the author’s knees as a pillow to rest his head.
Within a short space of time, the performers got about 25 or more people lying next to each other or below each other and surprise, surprise, these stranger were introducing themselves and talking to each other in a non-London manner!
This fantastic open air performance I later learned was by the National Theatre and it’s called Watch This Space. There was a group hug after the performance between the volunteers and the performers.
Your can find out more about the performance and National Theatre at their website http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/welcome-to-the-national-theatre/watch-this-space-festival