PARK ACTION - DIRECTOR’S NOTE by Aiden Condron, August 2006

Working within nervousystem’s research domain: Actor as Writer  as part of the second phase of Theatre Haiku, actors and nervousystem founder members Marián Araújo and Regan O’ Brien along with a new actor Helen Delaney (selected from a recent open Worksession conducted by the company) commenced work on a new performance structure which was later given the working title ‘Park Action’. Working individually at first, these actors elaborated their own entirely original individual action ‘scores’. These scores were composed  via the montage of  their personal repertoire of ‘Physical Actions’ and ‘Vocal Actions’. These they integrated with several carefully selected traditional European folk songs along with fragments of text, both established and original, from a variety of sources including T.S. Eliot’s The Game of Chess, and some work written by writer Jeffery Gormly as a response to the actors’ research work. Many of their actions were born out of their previous ongoing research work, while others were discovered within this focused time period. Inspiration was found within their own autobiographical impulses and associations and also largely influenced by what was provoked in them by the elements within and ambience around  the site-specific performance space chosen for this particular project. The first performance was presented at the Visitors Centre in Phoenix Park and a later performances presented at SUPA in Valetta, Malta.