Smile

Smile is an intergenerational performance looking at fixed notions of gender, sexuality, age and conformity; a blueprint for provocations about how society defines ideas of happiness and intergenerational interactions developed within an arts and health context for a teenage performer, Max.

Smile takes the act of smiling as a scientific phenomenon and social convention and explores its relationship to age, gender, culture and institutions. Smile is inspired by Camus’ Myth of Sisyphus, about a man’s eternal search for meaning, and Camus' instruction that ‘one must imagine Sisyphus happy’, as he pushes the boulder up the hill once more.

With participants at MISA and Warrenmount we workshopped performance ideas developing material and experimenting with modes of performance. Working with staff and clients from Speech and Language Therapy and Martha Whiteway Day Hospital we looked at intricate reflections on happiness, exploring the act of reminiscing and developing portraits. With Transition year students we workshopped themes exploring the interchangeable roles of performer, audience member and maker.