When Washington DC-based performance artiste, Brian Feldman, decided to do one of his quirky shows in Chennai, he couldn’t find a more apt space than namma city’s first anti-cafe, Backyard. The award-winning artiste is known for his curious and odd performances. He has had a family dinner before a live audience several times (The Feldman Dynamic), and has leapt off a ladder 366 times over 24 hours for another performance; these are only the tip of his trademark odd performances! This event also marks the first ever show for Brian in India.
‘txtshow’ is an interactive performance where audiences and their tweets are the basis of the events. It also takes pride in being the only event where phones are essentially allowed! During the 45-minute performance, the participants will have to tweet using the anonymous hashtag provided to them and Brain will instantly enact them.
Talking about the collaboration, Brain says, “When I decided to do a show in Chennai, I started looking for the ‘cool’ places to go to — the ones, which gravitate the younger audience. When I got to know about Backyard, I was like, ‘Bingo, this should be it!’ I eventually contacted them and they agreed to it.”
Brian continues, “I am very active on Twitter. I have done several other performances similar to this on Twitter. I once adapted the famous play, The Taming Of The Shrew, which was the first-ever adaptation of Shakespeare’s on Twitter. We had handles for the characters and had the conversation in real time. So, when I realised that the feed was like a script, especially when you scrolled up, I thought this would be the perfect way for an actor to work with and for the public to become playwrights. Unlike other plays, where the audience sit and watch, here they have to actively participate. If they don’t, we are going to have a problem.”
Brian is also doing another project in the city called ‘Dish Washer’. The premise of this play is more experimental than ‘txtshow’. The artiste will be visiting someone’s house and will wash all the vessels that they pile up — and then enact any monologue given by the host! Post the washing and acting, he ends the performance with one question to the host: ‘Am I a better actor or dishwasher?’ Usually, there will be only one ticket to the show (which is already sold out) and anyone willing to let Brian wash their dishes, will have to buy it out. But the host can invite any number of people he/she wants to.
“I was wondering if anyone would be interested at all in hosting me! But the fact that someone in Chennai actually bought a ticket to my show means the city is open to experiments,” he shares.
So, when asked what the majority of his hosts have answered, Brain laughs, “Oh, I am not going to tell you that! I may not tell you the answer but let me tell you this: whenever my family starts doing the dishes, I stop them and say ‘hey, I am the dishwasher here. Let me do it’ and they agree. Because they know that I am going to take it up seriously. So, it doesn’t matter what people’s answers are, but the effort you put in does.”
(txtshow is happening on June 3 at Backyard, Adyar)
