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