I saw this video recently and just had to share it.
How bizarre would that be as a commuter, and how awesome would it be as a performer?!
Before I had children I did a lot of these 'pranks'. Sometimes alone, but usually in a group. There were about 15 of us 'regulars' and we used to spend our weekends tormenting the general public. We took great delight in planning our acts. Some of them were meant to make a statement - others were purely for the fun of it. There's something disturbingly satisfying about freaking people out.
Often our performances weren't meant to be loud or in your face. In fact most of the time we found subtlety held the greatest power. Like "Attack of the Clones", which took place at McDonald's on a busy Saturday afternoon.
We entered gradually and inconspicuously in groups of 2 and 3. We each ordered a small coke and fries, sat down - spacing ourselves out amongst the other customers - and took a newspaper out of our bag. Once we were all seated, we began doing everything in perfect unison.
Turn the page
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Turn the page
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Turn the page
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Over and over, everyone moving in sync although seemingly unconnected. Very occasionally someone would ask us what we were doing. We would simply answer, "Enjoying the weekend", whilst still repeating pattern...
Turn the page
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Then, one by one...
Check the time
"Oh my gosh!"
Close the paper
Exit
These days, the closest I get to street theatre is watching one (or all) of the kewl girls throw a massive wobbly in the middle of the footpath.
Strangely enough, this gets much the same audience reaction.
Turn the page
Sip of coke
Take a fry
Pause
Eat the fry
Pause
Then, one by one...
Check the time
"Oh my gosh!"
Close the paper
Exit
These days, the closest I get to street theatre is watching one (or all) of the kewl girls throw a massive wobbly in the middle of the footpath.
Strangely enough, this gets much the same audience reaction.
8 comments:
ha ha ha ha - very cute! I never had the guts, although I would hop on a stage and do whatever - real life was more scary!
oh that is way clever!
that would have been fantastic to see.
I loved that video, it was brilliant.
Saw a bit of this on tv a little while ago. It's awesome! Is it part of the flash mob movement? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob)
I've never acted, but I would love to participate in something like this. It really is my kind of humour and somewhat fits in with my ideas about 'culture for the masses' too.
These particular people are from Improv Everywhere (http://improveverywhere.com/)
They're done stacks of other awesome 'freeze missions' and these are shown on their website.
I'm definitely inspired to get out there and start making people uncomfortable again, lol.
Absolute classic! I've got a daughter here looking over my shoulder and getting all inspired to do that sort of thing! But she doesn't think she could keep a straight face. (Strangely enough she's the one that doesn't like the limelight!)
I just blogged about Improv Everywhere for Vagabondish.com!
Here's a link to that post -
http://www.vagabondish.com/frozen-in-time-improv-everywhere-effect-spreads/
I absolutely loved the Paris event, although Grand Central wasn't bad either!
Thanks preschool mama. Great article!
The whole movement is pretty kewl, I think.
Tracy - Did you see the guy frozen about to take a bit of a banana?! That's one way to keep a straight face, I guess.
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