31/01/2014

The room was dark and lined with bodies, uncomfortably touching. The Undertaker paced around the bodies and began his story. The story of one man in prison, befriending an undertaker, to escape his hell. Only to find his escape short lived…

Our task for today – to create a five minute presentation that would unsettle the audience.

The story I chose was a story involving a man befriending an undertaker to escape prison. He goes into the church late one night and lifts a casket. Yes there is a body. And gets inside. The following morning as the casket is delivered to its destination it is put into the ground and dirt is piled up on top. The man inside getting ever more impatient to escape the casket. Time passes and it seems no one is coming. He gets a lighter out of his pocket, and realises that the body he was lying on was that of the undertaker.

From speaking to some of the class it was evident that they were unsure as to why they were lying down, with their eyes shut. But as the story was painted, the audience realised why they were lying down, uncomfortably, intimately touching each other – that they were bodies in a coffin. The sudden realisation of the finale of the story made the audience unsettled and as their eyes were closed they imagined the horror of what was happening.

The idea to have the audience lying down as if they were bodies in a casket was a spontaneous late decision. On reflection it would be interesting if I was able to move the audience to face each other without them knowing to make them feel more uncomfortable, like the prisoner facing the undertaker’s body.