Paper short abstract:

An exploration into how events that were part of Liverpool European Capital of Culture 2008 engendered a performance of place. The participation of people, or the spect-actors, in these events create the city. The balance between playful expression and restrictions of the city space is interrogated.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will draw on research undertaken in 2008 in Liverpool as the city celebrated its year as European Capital of Culture. Using data gathered by participant observation at 'La Princesse' a spectacular street performance, 'Liverpool Cityscape' an exhibition of work by Ben Johnson, and aboard the Beatles themed 'The Magical Mystery Tour' the paper will be explore the performance of the city of Liverpool. Considering the participants as spect-actors (Boal, 2000), the paper looks at how interaction with the fabric of the city allows a re-imagining of the space. Large-scale and public creativity and more intimate personal reimagining will be explored. The paper considers the balance between playful interaction and the potential that this has on improvisation and experimentation with identity, and the constraints of the city, both perceived and real. The paper concludes that chaos and ludic excess whilst seeming exciting and appealing, make way for structure and certainty in the case of Liverpool during these events. The work comes from a PhD project which explored the performance and performativity of local identities in Liverpool as facilitated by the Capital of Culture award.

Boal, A., (2000). Theatre of the Oppressed (Third ed). London: Pluto Press.