This is a love story

<p>In the beginning. We wanted to write a contract. So you would know. What to expect from us. And what we expect from you. And what we give. And what you take. And what you pay. And what you get. We want you to get your money’s worth. And the contract will say. If you leave, we leave. If you get up and go, we get up and go. So you see, we are all in this together. You and us…For You, The Audience, Michael Pinchbeck presents an extract from The Beginning (2012) that directly addresses the implicit contract between performer and audience. Reading from the script of the show, Michael and his collaborator, Rhiannon Jones, question the symbiotic relationship between the actor and the spectator, and offer an invitation to become Augusto Boal’s notion of the ‘spect-actor’. Inspired by Peter Handke’s Offending The Audience (1966) and Forced Entertainment’s First Night (2001), the extract draws attention to what it is like, sitting in the dark, watching a story being told in which you, the audience, have a central part to play. The question is: will the audience sign the contract, on the dotted line, or will they rip it up?</p>