Forced Entertainment is an experimental theatre company founded by Tim Etchells in 1984 (comprised of six artists), and based in Sheffield UK. Etchells is an artist and writer (working in performance, video, text projects, installation and fiction), he is concerned with contemporary identity and the urban experience. Speak Bitterness was directed by Tim Etchells and collaboratively written by the group at Forced Entertainment. The theatre company is described as experimental and innovative theatre that draws from several influences — movies, internet, stand-up comedy, dance, bad television, performance art, music culture, in addition to theatre (“Speak Bitterness”). The Speak Bitterness stage production highlights the theatre company’s appreciation for media and tech influences combining the high brow (theatre), the middle brow (political news comedy on TV) and the low brow (internet), which arguably elevates its ability to resonate with contemporary audiences.
Speak Bitterness was a break from their prior works, as a primarily text based work, with mostly static actors. First staged in 1994 (recorded performance from ICA in London in Dec 1995), the play has been shown in theatre and marathon versions (lasting up to 6 hours), enabling the audience to come and go throughout the performance. The work drew on observations of cultures in confession — on chat shows, in churches and show trials that emerged around the time of the play’s development (“Speak Bitterness”). The content of the show seems to have been influenced by (and maintained relevance throughout) the rise in popularity of political-news talk shows and scandals throughout the last twenty-five years. According to an excerpt on their development process outlined in the book, “Certain Fragments: Texts and Writings on Performance,” they used video to hone their improvisations, playing back rehearsals and analyzing them. Scripted sections are devised from successful improvisations, combined in various orders; sections of the piece were left unscripted so performers could choose new lines, interrupt each other and variously deviate from the script to keep it fresh (Etchells et al). A livestream version from Berlin in 2014 (in parallel with an audience dialogue on Twitter), garnered an audience of 3800 from around the world, and included references to Google translate, which was not in existence when the play was first staged in 1994 — indicating how the script has evolved with the times and the technology. The theatre company’s evolving of this play (in content, stage platform and methods of audience engagement) has shifted in light of these contextual innovations.
The stage is set-up like a conference room with a line of metal top conference tables and chairs (greys, metals, iron-colour), against a royal blue curtained-backdrop. Grey chairs are moved around, sometimes shifting around at the table, and sometimes moved to the back of the stage. Piles of sheets of paper (cream-colour) are lined up in piles across the length of the tables, which the actors refer to and read from. Later the papers are removed enabling the actors to emotionally-connect more directly with the audience in their confessions, before the piles of paper are brought back. Lighting overhead consistently lit the table surface, and the performers while sitting or standing at the table, also evoking the florescent lighting commonly found in office settings. The back wall is a blue divider curtain with the words “SPEAK BITTERNESS.” The combination of greys, royal blues, muted tones and brightly lit faces and cream-coloured paper against a darkening backdrop creates an ominous atmosphere that contributes to the performers’ conveyance of stress when confessing. There are seven performers: four women and three men, five of them are dressed in similar grey suits with white or black tops, while two are dressed in black suits/dress suits. The fit and sheen of their attire connotes (cheap) store bought suits, denoting lower levels of the managerial class. The performers appear to represent white collar figures of a certain managerial or supervisory-level of employee. The group has a similar movement vocabulary, alternating sitting and standing, moving chairs, shuffling papers, moving to the back of the room, sometimes shouting and interrupting each other. The confessions oscillate between a range of expressions — mumbling, whispering, reading, angrily yelling, delivered with a laugh or trepidation. Lines are delivered across a range of expression — sincere, guilt-ridden, bitter, preposterous, absurd, etc (Etchells et al). In “Certain Fragments,” Etchells says, “The thing which holds it together is the sense that the performers are, through the medium of the confessions, measuring themselves against the possibilities of human misdemeanour and wayward behaviour – from the largest political crimes to the most banal of daily errors” (Etchells et al). The collective vocal signatures of the group, connote a managerial style of standard professional/ business vocalisation, albeit under some duress. Voice audio throughout the play was comprised solely of the actors regular voices, without amplification, which underscores the authenticity of the confessions. The actors sat mostly along one side of the table, facing the audience and throughout the play, some sat along the back wall, or individually moved around, as one would in a business meeting (or similar professional/ political) context.
The global effect on their performance on the space and time denotes the behaviour of individuals in a long work session as they became more settled, and less defensive in their conveyance of confessions, evolving to mere explanations or revelations. Their change in clothing (removal of jackets, rolling up of sleeves, informality of kneeling on the floor with arms on the table, heads on folded arms), connotes a long work session — many hours stuck in a room with co-workers trying to solve a problem or make progress on a project, and over time, formalities in dress begin to be dispensed with. This semblance was further exaggerated/ amplified by the three men holding hands (as if holding on for dear life ’til the very end). Towards the end of the play, there is a scene comparing the mens’ confessions of dubious behaviour to that of children, like boys play acting until they were found out. The change in the play of women dictating the revelations from the back row, connote gendered roles in indictments, gender-skewed accountabilities and women’s roles as the moral compass in society (although, I question whether this is an accurate depiction of reality). Towards the end, soft piano music was played in the background, when the confessions had tempered to being revelations shaped by a broader contextual view of human idiosyncrasies. At the end, all actors had rejoined the tables, sitting similarly to the beginning.
The global impact of the combined elements is underscored by the Britishness of the stage play (British accents, references, observations, manners and mannerisms of confession, anger and forthrightness), and makes a statement on the constraints of a rigid social hierarchy and the manner in which the social stratification plays out, particularly in terms of guilt-ridden behaviours. The perspective on confessions would be viewed differently depending on the societal rung on which an audience member sat, making the work conducive to different audiences and contrasting perspectives. The performers’ defensiveness and anger are not only comedic, but denote the level of professional command — those who have not yet garnered the skills of discernment or deflection senior management or leadership are convincingly fluent in. Confessions of guilt and expressions of anger are usually seen (in the upper rungs) as a sign of being over one’s head in terms of the responsibility they are given.
Work Cited
Etchells, Tim, et al. “Certain Fragments : Texts and Writings on Performance.” Taylor & Francis Group, 1999.
Etchells, Tim. “Speak Bitterness: Our Catalogue of Confessions.” The Guardian, 16 Oct. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/oct/16/speak-bitterness-confessions-forced-entertainment-live-stream-tim-etchells.
Gardner, Lyn. “Tweet Bitterness: How Forced Entertainment Took over Twitter.” The Guardian, 20 Oct. 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2014/oct/20/tweet-speak-bitterness-forced-entertainment-twitter-fespeaklive.
“Speak Bitterness.” Forced Entertainment, https://www.forcedentertainment.com/projects/speak-bitterness/. Accessed 10 Nov. 2022.
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