5 cakes and a bike, what could go wrong?

Acting. Drama. The degree I’ve been studying for the past 3 years, yet I’ve never in my life experienced anything like this. Endurance? Most people would think of sport or nutrition upon hearing this word, however endurance performance pieces really do exist; safe or not.

When joe approached the group, asking who felt comfortable eating a considerable amount of food on stage, my instant reaction was to throw my hand in the air dramatically. Anyone that knows me will know how much I eat and how usually this would not be a problem. Usually. After accepting the challenge, joe sat me down and explained in detail my role within the show and how I would need to prepare. I waited to write this blog until after I had tried out my scene, so I could really explain it detail.

So, my role appeared from a personal story within the group focusing on eating disorders and obsession. The story was of a girl that became obsessed with calorie counting and exercise alongside her eating habits. The exercise was a form of escapism juxtaposing her eating. The scene would be an ongoing piece throughout the entire play, to show the negative impact escapism can have on our bodies physically and how dangerous it can be. During the show at different intervals, a total of 5 cakes would appear on stage at different times for me to eat one by one, followed by excersising on a spin bike at regular points. Throughout this, there is several passages of dialogue between me Brodie and Rob, whom are, in a gameshow manner, guiding me through the process. Before running the scene through, I did a lot of research into endurance based performances. Carolee Schneeman is a endurance performer and it was intriguing to research her performance ‘Up to and including her limits’ (Schneeman, 1976). Although this was unlike the eating endurance piece I was about to do, it was eye opening to see a performer pushing her body’s limit physically and mentally; something that I was about to do.

The first run through of this scene with the cake happened yesterday and I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting it to be this hard.

Endurance eating (Workman, 2017).

I had to be driven home and proceeded to be sick for the rest of the day. Although it was an awful experience, watching the recording of it today was powerful and very moving. It really brought to light the struggles man people in the world face today with body image, over or under eating, exercise and general self-consciousness. I am very aware that this scene will not be able to be practised with cake many time before the show, as it is very unhealthy and completely impossible to do during daily rehearsal. However, the spin bike is residing in my student house so I shall be training on that daily to prepare myself in the running up to the show.

Work sited:

Workman, L. (2017) Endurance eating.

Schneeman, C (1976). Up to and including her limits.