The End

Mole says 'I think we're nearly there' and it's one hour before the work in progress at the Arnolfini. This is four months after we started and a week before the premiere in Leeds Met Studio where our journey began. Whatever happens tonight the tour begins next week. The shoes have been bought. The Pilots costumes have been made. Hand stitched insignias from an army surplus shop. We bought Club Tropicana from i-tunes and a cable to project it with and that's the end of the show sorted. We are set up in the Dark Studio where we arrived a week and a half ago with an empty floor and something resembling a set. We have borrowed fans, heaters and fire extinguishers. A camera case is open. We packed it ourselves. We are at the end and there is nothing left to write. Mole is saying 'I'm empty I'm an empty vessel'. I've wondered when I've been writing this whether it is half full or half empty. I am struggling to fill what I see with sense. I printed this blog out earlier and it has 130 posts. 30000 words about nothing. Or making nothing. Or making something that says nothing. And now here we are. Doing nothing. We hope you come to see The Pilots. We hope you have a good flight. Mole looks at me and says 'Do I look like a pilot?' in the last rehearsal before the audience comes in and I say 'Yes'. Tim turns the lights off and plays Club Tropicana. Mole says 'How do we end this?' Tim says 'What are we doing?' Mole says 'Nothing'. This is the end.

We're outside an airport

Where are we?
We're outside a nightclub
We're outside an airport
We're in a theatre
We're in Bristol
Monday
Tuesday
Paris
Wednesday
New York
Thursday
Milan

When Tim asks 'Where are we?' he triggers a sound effect of a Boeing 777 taking off. It is loud. It is close. It gives the text an energy it didn't have before. They look up as if the plane is flying over their heads outside an airport and as its vapour trails linger they start to say the days of the week. We arrive in Bristol on Thursday. Where we are now.

It's not changing

We're watching the video of yesterday's rehearsals and Mole says it feels a bit flat. I say what do you think it needs? More urgency. More energy. More emotion. More purpose. Mole says more direction I think. We're wandering around. I feel like we're stuck in this position of wandering and I keep slowing it down maybe we're too tired or something. Tim says I don't think it's too bad it just peaks and troughs I think. We just need more energy I think. For John I'm only dancing it goes up and then it comes down again. And if we play 'Club Tropicana' when Tim's on the floor it might pick it up again. Mole says 'Yeah'. We are not sure. It's not changing. We talk about the moment when he goes Fuck Fuck Fuck I've drunk too much coffee. Please someone take this text out of my hand before I explode. How it could be 'I'd drunk too much coffee when I wrote this.' And how Mole could be more upset in saying this. Like he is stuck in the future of the script. Folding the past into the present. The writing into the reading. And then when Tim has both copies of the script he reads from them both. Maybe moving from mic to mic. Before Mole asks him 'Is that all one person speaking?'

Feedback

There were a lot of words in it
I'm not sure I've never heard so many words
Reckless shows are normally known for their
sparseness
It just took me by surprise
Good
A little bit of a departure
Or a shift
To the dark side
And that was only half
So there are a lot of words in the other half too
About the same amount of words
Exactly
There's a bigger set too
What does it mean?
Did you try the fire extinguisher yet?
We haven't got the right one?
If you pull the pin you're going to get very wet
It's going to have to be a prop one
Yes it was very poetic
Don't have a go at me
It's supposed to read like a script
Something that happens to the voice
When you're reading off a sheet of paper and
Something that happens when you're just speaking to someone
It's a really subtle thing
Sounds like you're still reading when you've learned your lines
One of the things when you polish it
Is when to sound like you're reading a script
And when to sound like you're not reading it
That's a practice thing
We're not really at that point
With this second half
We're also rushing it
I suppose the undercurrent that Spanish Train had
The uncomfortableness that it had in the world
It's a Pinter-esque show this one - very menacing
I've heard that before
It's fucking complicated
Fucking complicated
so many
Not just modes of performance
But also levels of performing
Performing
Not performing
Performing when you're not performing
As well as the relationship between
dance and theatre and what performance can be
The internal world of theatre
I had a question yesterday
Is it too knowing?
Yes it is quite knowing
It's in a place that knows quite a lot about theatre
If the knowingness had been a bit surface or a bit crap
It didn't feel like that
There was a lot going on
You could let it breathe a bit more
What like more pauses
Yeah - slow it down
Just that thing
Normally Reckless shows have lots of space
And very beautiful to look at
In quite a conventional way
But you have Pilots costumes
They're quite beautiful
Do I look like a Pilot?
When I asked that question
Did you want to answer me
Did you feel an urge
I thought you were directing that at Tim actually
When you're going don't look at me look at him
There are three of us in that
I think that also not seeing the first half
It\s amazing doing something and thinking
Things don't make sense when you're only looking at the second half
Do you start off as Pilots?
Quite impressive
Quite sharp
Quite dapper
Then you only put them on for two minutes
Think that was quite a nice construct for us
That we're actually not
The whole show is about preparing
For this moment to be Pilots
And as soon as we get there
It's finished
Then we put Club Tropicana on
Don't think that's what it's about
What did you think it was about?
Fucked up relationships
You know when you try and meet someone somewhere and you can never quite make it
Those moments with people actually don't happen that often
It felt like it was a lot of that
Yeah relationships
Your frustrations
With those things
It did feel a bit of a private world
Did you get in it?
Not as easily as I might have done
It's hard to judge
Then you used devices to get me in
Makes me know you're doing it for me
But still doesn't let me in
So there's a barrier
That's not good
But I haven't seen he first half
You do need to let it breathe more
Give me a space
Pauses
A way in
It was funny too
Made me laugh
I only heard you laugh once
I was smiling quite a lot
When I said
Did I pack that myself?
Because it's such a funny
I hate airports
What am I going to say?
I'm going to end up using the train a lot more
That thing about being a kid
It's quite Pilots and Air Stewardesses
It's quite glamorous
And it isn't really
It wasn't glamorous
Your show wasn't
But that image you have in your head
It was out of reach
It was expensive
And it's not glamorous
At all
Anything else
Is that useful?
It is useful yes
I think it confirms
What we were talking about
We left feeling quite empty
Knowing we had a lot to do
I think potentially
I think you can improvise
Really well
It's that thing of when you
Start to play the same tunes
And you know them really well
You can start to piss around with them
We need to let them breathe
We were hurrying
We need to see where your relationship goes from
It was quite intellectual
I thought
Two degrees and an MA between us
And a proofreader and a licensee
I wouldn't want it to go any further
It starts to be pretentious
You've got to keep the relationship the focus
Rather than what it's like to have a relationship on stage with an audience
If theatre doesn't refer to its means of production it tends to be rubbish
Any artform if it's any good
Engages with what it's trying to do
Where it comes from
What its framework is
If it doesn't
If it doesn't
It's normally crap...

Technical requirements

We want something very simple and something that really refers to that space. The space that this project occupies. There are a few things that we will be bringing. A fan. A heater. A couple of microphone stands. A couple of stepladders. We ask that all lamps in the theatre be placed on the floor. That we work with fluorescent lights. That if possible we can see outside. If not through a glass window then through a CCTV camera that relays a live image from outside to a crappy TV monitor inside. We want to carry out a sound check onstage at the beginning of the show. We will be rigging one light from one of the ladders and focusing another from the floor. So we need a manual lighting desk and sound desk operated on stage. We will not be touring with technical support. We want to keep the travel associated with this project down to a minimum and if possible we will fit this project in a suit or a flight case.

Do I look like a pilot?

Mole Is that my light? Is this my ladder? Is that my dance floor? Is that my microphone? Do I look like a pilot? Etc. (Mole continues reeling off a list of these questions moving around the stage ending up in the centre. Tim moves SL, sets up Mole’s floor spot, plugs it in, turns off house lights and moves to lighting desk taking his time. Mole gets more frantic with his questions until it reaches a desperate peak).

Someone take this text out of my hand

Mole I’m vacuous. I’m fucking entertainment. I’m fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck I've drank too much coffee, someone stop me. Someone please take this text out of my hand before I explode. (Tim takes script out of Mole’s hand.)

Can I do this without my trousers?

Mole Can I do this without trousers. It’s just that I'm a bit hot. Can I do it without socks? Just in my underpants?

Tim YES OK WHATEVER! I don’t know what that is.

Mole YES OK WHATEVER!

Programme

We make a programme during a coffee break in the Arnolfini bar. We cut and paste entries from the blog. The first post from each venue we've worked at during the devising process. Leeds Met. Preset. Lakeside. Arnolfini. The writing gets closer to the end of the show but we still haven't made it there. It's not a mile off. The nature of marketing is always having to describe work that doesn't exist yet. To sit somewhere between the vague and the specific. The Pilots seems like a paradigm of this paradox because it sits somewhere between the ready and the unready. Half full and half empty. Half written and half unwritten. Half remembered. Half rendered. Half hearted. The work in progress will not feel too different to the finished piece. Two men reading scripts trying to work out where they are in the world and on the page. The programme itself is a work in progress. Text trying to find its place upon the page. Tim says 'Art comes in the door, common sense goes out the window.'

Fire Extinguisher

It was really nice to see you in the introduction. Seeing you being you. Onstage. We need to find that energy more. Nervous energy. Also in the introduction I think you should say something about why we can't use the fire extinguisher. Like tonight we wanted to use a fire extinguisher but we were told it was hazardous so we can't use it. So there is this point where we use a fire extinguisher but we don't. There is something charged about the space now. There was a clothes rail in the room when we got here and it has found its way into the show. Birdies are hanging off the clothes rail with empty coat hangers. Shoes are on the floor. Ladders and microphone stands are beginning to talk to each other. There are two tables on either side. A fan. An invisible heater. A stack of chairs. A white screen. A video projector. We are waiting for Club Tropicana to show at the end. There is a fire extinguisher which we can't use standing centre stage next to the mic and Mole's brown shoes which were 20% off at Jones. Tim says 'Why do your shoes have to be there?' Mole says 'Because they have to be there. It's predictive.'

Interview

Last week Tim and Mole talked with Tanuja Amarusuriyah at Theatre Bristol. For a transcript of the interview copy and paste the link below.

http://www.theatrebristol.net/content.asp?CategoryID=1247

I'm in a theatre

Hello hello
Are we already here
Hello
It's annoying isn't it
What?
That clicking sound
Did Helen say she would introduce it
No I'll introduce it
So maybe we're here
Just larking about
Preparing
That's it the door's closed
Hello
Welcome to this thing...
Welcome to The Pilots (second half)
Some things you won't understand
Because we're going for page 9
I could give you a brief synopsis
But I won't becuase Tim won't let you
It's a work in progress
So it would be great if we could have a chat about it
Not you
Not just you
I don't know you
Although I'm sure you're very nice
We're having a book launch
It's a book about process
So it's a good time to be doing a work in progress
There's wine
I'm not sure how much it'll cost
Come back and see the finished show
It won't be like this it'll be different
It'll be in the theatre
I'm in a theatre


We had a meeting yesterday with the Arnolfini staff about the work in progress tomorrow and Mole decided he would introduce the show. We spend time working on the intoduction finding its way into the text of the work-in-progress. Half way through. Page 9. We talk about how even when they run the full show maybe there should still be a moment on page 9 when Mole mentions it would be nice to get some feedback after the show. 'It would be great if we could have a chat afterwards.' Maybe introduce a post-show talk. Or plug the book. Then realise where they are on the page and the stage and carry on. 'I'm in a theatre'.

Work in Progress

Mole Hello hello welcome to the show
It’s great to see so many familiar faces
This is The Pilots – work in progress

Tim This is the second half

Mole This is the second half of the show
Which we’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks
We’d appreciate any feedback you have
Not during the show though – afterwards

Tim Book launch

Mole Book launch afterwards about another show
Not this show because we haven’t finished it yet
We couldn’t write one about a show we haven’t finished yet
If you want to see the finished show you’ll have to come back
We’ll be in the theatre
Not in this space
In the big space with seats and lights and stuff
I’m in a theatre
And I’m sorry

Noone's listening

But there's no gun
But there's no gun
But there's no gun
But there's there's there's nothing
There's no bomb in my suitcase
There's no knife pressed hard against my neck
There's nothing stopping me
There's nothing starting me
There's nothing
There's nothing to worry about
There's noone
There's noone shouting
There's noone screaming
There's noone screaming
There's noone screaming
That's it that's the end goodbye
If you don't listen I'm going to kill you
If you don't listen I'm going to kill you
If you don't listen I'm going to take you all with me
Noone's listening
Noone's listening to me

Weakness

There is a weakness here. Lots of stars on the text. We are trying to find the holes. You probably thought this was a bit of a joke. Has John gone? Yes John's gone. And then I say When did John arrive? Where are we? Page 7. No whereabouts in the world. Where are we? Has John gone? When did John arrive? Who is John? It's confusing but I think it's OK. Also - John was in the audience earlier but now he's gone. He didn't like what he saw. So we have someone walking out of the room. The door slams but noone has moved. This is a weak weak weak weak bit. It seems like the weak bits are when we go on a journey. We don't really know what the journey is. But we do know. So we need to change it on the page. Tim says 'Maybe we need to make the journey more clear or not as clear.' It could be simple. It could start very cold and we arrive very hot. We could arrive in Ibiza. It's actually not as loaded as it is here. In fact we're describing the journey to the Club Tropicana video.

Objects

Objects. They need to be set in the space. We need to know the journey they go on. I think I need to wear your shoes. Are they my shoes? We need a place for you to change. I don't like that distraction of you changing in the monologue. You've got a jacket at the beginning which you take off. And you've already got the shoes on. We need to change your trousers. Maybe I'm wearing two pairs of trousers. Like when you're going to a night club and changing when you get there so you're parents don't know what you're wearing. Stripping off layers. We need to work out what the trajectory of the objects are. The fire extinguisher. The microphone stands. The clothes rail. How do we incorporate lanterns. Maybe we rig them on the clothes rail. We need to try something else. Something new. Something different. Something without a history. But we are using objects which have a history to do it.

When do we start to know it?

Mole asks 'When do we start to know it?' All of this at the beginning is bad but good bad and we don't know it and I think there's a point where it reaches a fluidity. Then it crashes again when I lose my text. But I'm thinking I need to know that text to not know it. For me the graph of the whole show is an arc. Like we don't know it and then we do know it. It starts for me when I say it's January and it's the beginning. Just because that's before the monologue when I need to know it. That's the whole thing. For me that's the one which I should be reading off a script but I'm not. It's a bit backwards which I like. I think these are powerful moments. When you come back on. There is another point when you take control. That turning point is when you come forward to the camera and say 'It feels a bit flat.' I think it's good that we swap. That's the hinge of the show.

Club Tropicana

Mole and Tim talk about the end. How they are both dressed as Pilots. How they might sit down in the audience where they began. How they might show the video for Club Tropicana. How they might use some of the movement vocabulary from Club Tropicana throughout the show. A cocktail waiter dancing. George Michael sitting on a beach. People sitting around a pool moving their heads from side to side. Two women on donkeys. Two men coming out of the pool and looking at passers by. Mole talks about collecting moments. Moments which he thinks we should call Brief Encounter moments. There aren't that many moments from the Club Tropicana video we can actually use but there are moments we make already which can be used again later. Becoming motifs. We are sowing seeds into the show. Adding and subtracting details. So people might see something and think 'Have I seen that moment already?'. 'Where was I when I saw it'. 'Was I sitting here?'

Nearly there

Tim says 'At this point it all grinds to a halt' at a time when we don't know what we're doing and he's right. Mole says 'I think we're nearly there'. We look at the text and it says 'Where are we?' and Mole says 'Do we say we're in Bristol and it's Tuesday.' Can we say where and when we are performing at the time and where we will be performing next. Can it become another moment where we think whereabouts are we in the world and on the page. Mole says 'I think we're nearly there'. I think he means near the end of the devising process or he could mean the end of the journey The Pilots are making. Mole says 'I don't think it's a mile off'. We are talking about time and distance in the same terms. They are interchangeable. The end of the process has become the destination and the time it will take has become a geographical journey. We are finding out more about John and George and when we are pretending to be them. Mole says this is so much fucking better. We are nearly there...

Dance floor

Who the fuck are you?
What the fuck are you doing?
I'm
You're
I'm
What
What are you
I'm
what are you
I'm anyone you want me to be
You can be John
You're John and you're dancing
Yeah that's good
Keep going
'She turns me on'
OK I get it now
you're John and you're dancing
You're You're You're in a night club
And you feel awkward
Do I?
You don't know whether this is the right song for this dance
You don't know whether this is the right dance for this song
You don't whether you should be doing this.
You wonder if you should study the movements of David Bowie before you start making movements like this.
You wonder whether anyone's looking at you
You wonder if you look cool if you look smart if you look sophisticated
You wonder if you look like you know what you're doing
But you don't
Well
Is that it?
Yeah
I think we're a bit stuck here
I don't think this is right
I can't remember what I should be doing here
I'm not sure where here is any more
I've forgotten what we should be doing
I'm just dancing
I'm dancing for a reason but I can't remember why
Just waiting for the end of the record

Your name's not down you're not coming in

So who are you?
I'm John
You're dancing
I'm dancing
You're John and you're dancing - can we see that
And you're in a night club and it's quite dark
There are lots of people are on the dance floor
And you look cool and you look fantastic
And you know all the moves
But you don't
You're really going for it
And people around you stop
And they start looking at you
And they stand there and they stare at you
And you're still going but suddenly you've lost everything
You've lost your thoughts
You're still standing
You don't know what you're doing anymore
You're still
Who the fuck are you
And what the fuck do you think you're doing
That's the wrong show completely
Who the fuck are you?
I'm John I'm only dancing
Where are you?
I'm outside a night club but I don't think they'll let me in
You've not got no shoes on
I've got no shoes on

John I'm only dancing

You're John and you're dancing

Do you remember that feeling of going to a club, a school disco? I think being in this room helps. It feels like a night club. A disco. A dark room. I have this overriding feeling of what are we doing here? Why are we in this night club and why are we dancing? Am I thinking about this too much here. Maybe in the overall scheme of things this is the lost, quiet, boring bit. There's been a lot of text. I have no concerns I just want to know why it's here and what we're doing with it. It does follow from Dear John and John's gone and are you John? And a nightclub is mentioned earlier on. Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much. Maybe we should try it again but this time you're John and you're dancing.

Rolling

I think it's really flat I think we just need to give it more energy. And I know I'm not supposed to be here I'm supposed to be dancing but why don't we try it with a bit more energy.

Every time I start the camera I say 'Rolling'. Mole and Tim have never acknowledged the camera before. This time they walk towards the camera at the end of rehearsing. They walk either side of the tripod and I start to think that the camera might be in the piece and this might be a rehearsal for something they are getting ready to film. Something they want to leave behind. Something they want us to see after the show. Something they want us to see when they've done something. When they've done nothing. When they've gone. Like a terrorist's final message filmed in front of 70s wallpaper with pictures of prophets on the wall. Like a declaration of intent filmed by a gunman which he posts to NBC before he goes on a killing spree and shoots himself last. The Pilots filming their final rehearsal before pretending to be pilots.

Shoes

Mole says I'm going to take my shoes off. Because I am Sandi Shaw. Because I like taking my shoes off before performing. It feels like I'm preparing. Sometimes I feel like this is same feeling I have when I played rugby. I think it has that same sense of being prepared. Sitting in a dressing room with lots of half naked men. Do you want this on the blog? No. Mole takes his shoes off. Yesterday he made a monologue about shoes. About their cost. Their colour. Their shape. Their style. His sense of fashion. We talk about what we might need to buy some shoes. And what kind of shoes pilots wear. I think about shoe bombers and mosques and changing for PE and taking my shoes off when I went round to a friend's house where they had a new carpet before I went in.

Just a minute

Can we just talk about this for a minute. I really liked some bits and I really didn't like other bits. I liked it when you were feeding me my lines and also when you were fucking condescending when you said Oooh you got it right. I liked the look of shock on your face. I'd like to retain that. I liked the silence. I loved the feel of that. It felt like we'd edited this text by the process of doing it. Rewriting it live. I liked the moment when we didn't know where we were. What moment? Do you think I should go back to the chair? Yes. I like the bit when I say 'There's a line missing there. You bastard you stole my line.' It took us a while to warm up. It was interesting when you said do you remember we did it this way and I said I know but I want to do something new here and you said no no no that's fine. This is where we started to change direction. I like this transition. Can we try it again? Can we write it down. Is that it?

That's the end

At this point Mole takes off his trousers. He turns to face Tim and he is ten paces behind him. Tim says 'we are miles apart' and Mole starts to walk towards him. I want him to count to 10. Like the countdown before Ground Control to Major Tom. This is another moment of predictive text where we see something we have been told about in the past of the show. People walk in. A chair moves on its own. A mobile phone goes off. The show is riddled with interruptions that become a part of the show. Mole looks around him and says 'Is that my structural pillar?'. Already the show is responding to where we are. He says to Tim 'Is that my jacket? and Tim says 'No - it's very nice though.' Tim says 'Have you got my tie?' Mole says 'Do I look like an airline pilot?' about ten times and I say 'Yes you do.' Tim says 'OK I think we get the message.' Tim starts to feed Mole his lines. You say you're brilliant and Mole says 'You're brilliant'. We are into the text again. We have made it to the end. We have made another half of the show. The return journey is complete. Mole says 'I am doing nothing' and 'That's the end.'

Ten paces behind you

So... I want to find a way of doing this without saying so...

So... at this point everything grinds to a halt. And at this point you're thinking what the fuck are they doing, what the fuck am I doing sitting here, what are they doing standing there...

How do you feel

This is torture really isn't it

I think you should do the Kofi Annann mime and I'll put a bag on my head...

[Someone walks in]

I think it's great people just wonder in...

And fucking look for about 30 seconds

Who are you?

I don't know where this is going Tim

You are nobody

I'm nobody. Convince me that I'm George...

Don't look at me look at him don't look at me look at him he's irrestible. I don't have a face. I'm nobody. He's the one you should be watching. Just go with the flow. Bastard. There's a bit more here. I think we need a bit more here. Ah fucking hell I've lost it.

What?

I've lost everything...

What the fuck did that? Did you see that? The ghost chair?

I think that's right

I think we're

Are we?

It's just so hot

That should be you

Can I do this without my trousers

The return journey

You're supposed to be quiet. You're supposed to be paying attention. That's the rule. I speak. You listen. Because I'm standing here. It happens here and here and over here and over here

I think when we did this earlier we blocked it and you were moving around here

Yeah I know but I was trying something, something new...

I'm just trying to get my head around what it is

Something's missing. Just bear with us a second.

[Silence]

Someone's gonna walk in in a bit

Something happened I'm sure something happened and we've forgotten what it was

See when I did I did I err dance

It was after the dance

Was I was I was I really high was I

You could have been standing on something

Was it windy

I think so

The sun was out but it was windy

I can't remember

Was there traffic?

Yes

We were on our way somewhere.. we had to get somewhere... we're lost or were we trying to get lost. We followed a map.

That rings a bell

Was I angry with you was I walking ten paces behind you? Were you thinking about what was missing and what we've got?

It seemed really important but I can't remember

So do we know where we are

No where... where do you think you are...

I think... I think I'm in a night club...

The residency

There are suitcases in the Dark Room. Opened up and spilling pants over the floor. Like they have been searched at the airport. We set up the technical desk and talk about what we do now. Where from here. Mole says we should work on from the line: 'Your motivation is this gun I've got pointed at your head' - the last line of the first half of the show. We start working on the section that we have not worked on before. We talk about what shoes Pilots wear. We talk about silence and how there isn't any. We talk about what happens if Tim takes Mole's text away and what might be missing. The journey the pilots have gone on and where they are taking us. What they have seen and why they can't tell us. We talk about how The Pilots is anti-theatrical. A non-event. An anti-climax. A show about two men pretending to be two men pretending. Tim says it's like a reconstuction of a crime that hasn't occurred yet.

The Dark Room

February 19 February
3pm

Three O'Clock. Three men. Three laptops. Three weeks to go until the premiere. We are in the Dark Room at the Arnolfini in Bristol about to start work again on the final phase of The Pilots. We draw up a list of things we need in the space. A technical specification:

We need as many lights as possible on the floor, not live.
We will focus 2 lamps in the show.
One up a ladder, and one on the floor. Small 1K Fresnel and a floor flood.
Operation on stage.
2 Microphones on stands.
And to be able to play laptop or iPod on stage too.

The Pilots

This isn’t the first time this has happened. We’ve done this before. Many times. We’re professionals. I know what I’m doing and he knows what he’s doing. And what we’re supposed to be doing isn’t this and what we promised you in the publicity or in the brochures or whatever isn’t what we’re doing now...

Two men are pretending. Two men are pretending to be pilots. Two men are pretending to be George Michael and Andrew Ridgely in the Club Tropicana video pretending to be pilots. Two men are pretending to know what they’re doing. The Pilots follows a flight path from arrival to departure on a journey into uncharted territory. Reckless Sleepers mark 20 years of cutting edge contemporary performance by going back to the beginning. A theatre. An audience. Two men pretending.

The performance is part of a series of works investigating acts of terror and is supported by Arnolfini, Bristol, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham and Leeds Met Gallery and Studio Theatre.

The Photoshoot

Images: Julian Hughes