Nik Wakefield's research focuses on time and site-specificity, as methods of identifying the ontology of performance. I completed an honours B.F.A. at Boston University's prestigious Theatre Arts program, during which I enjoyed a comprehensive placement in London with Punchdrunk. Between Boston and Aberystwyth, I lived and worked in New York, making performance and frequently traveling to London to work with Heritage Arts Company. My work with Heritage Arts Company over the last three years has included conceptualising, research, devising and performance in many locations, but has often been initiated in one on one environments.

What separates intimate performance from large audience work is uniqueness of experience. This presentation attempts to measure the isolation of one person's experience of a durational action, especially actions that do not present real danger to an audience, in order to reveal the relevance of intimate performance. It will also analyse the evolution of Heritage Arts' attitude toward danger, real or otherwise, during performances. It will analyse the transformative element of installation in intimate work. One-on-One work may also be a part of a larger work, and this presentation will analyse how intimate performance can be effectively incorporated into larger, both in temporal and spatial scales, works of art. For theoretical frameworks, Postdramatic Theatre, the theory of Antonin Artaud and The Emancipated Spectator will be of significant use. The methodologies at work in the presentation are self-reflexive and practice led, as I myself have been involved in many of H.A.C.'s performances.

Uwe Gröschel is a director and collaborative PhD-researcher at the University of Manchester and Contact. His thesis is titled: “New paradigms in researching theatre audiences.” He investigates audiences’ experiences and the participative nature of Contact’s work. His studies led towards a combination of qualitative methodologies with drama-based, creative approaches. 

Participants will first hear a short introduction. Secondly they will be ACTIVELY involved in first making and then observing a short sequence of simple movements. In a third step participants will be ACTIVELY using creative methods to reflect on their own ‘inner life worlds.’ Methods employed here could involve: aiding memory through mental replay, drawing, mind mapping, interview, and collage.