Etiquette is a play performed in a public space by two people who are both its performers and its audience. The Foundry’s production is “staged” at a table in a working restaurant, where two people sit across from each other and follow a recorded script, complete with stage directions, that take them through a half-hour play in which they assume the characters of a philosopher and a young girl. Their conversation takes many situations – some borrowed from film and theater — where the ‘bubble’ shared between them breaks and reforms over and over as audience and performer and audience positions are imperceptibly assumed and exchanged. Etiquette exposes human communication at its rawest and most delicate.
2008 : Performed in Veselka Restaurant, NYC
Company
Etiquette was created by Rotozaza
Rotozaza, whose core members include Anthony Hampton and Silvia, has quietly established itself as one of the United Kingdom’s most surprising and innovative performance groups. From their early site-specific work in Milan and Paris through to a more recent focus on unrehearsed “guest” performers, their two aims have always been the same: to identify and celebrate what can only be done live, and to foster international links through an exciting practice, which isn’t afraid to operate in foreign languages and cultures. Their work is as challenging as it is humorous and often marked by theatrical revelations that transform an audience’s perspective on the events they witness.
Etiquette was performed by participants every half hour, twenty-four hours a day for one month
at a table in the historic East Village restaurant, Veselka in New York City.
Press
“Etiquette‘s dramatic effect is truly singular: after the initial public-speaking jitters, audience and actors become one, and a very personal performance emerges.” – Flavorpill
