Performance – Workshop

this is a group performance after all…

Samiir Saunders is a queer, Black, mixed-media poet based in Birmingham. Samiir is undertaking research to explore mental health, free will, coercion and the relationship between an audience and a performer as part of their Vivid Projects research residency funded by Arts Council England.

On 20 October 2022, Samiir invited participants to take part in a filmed interactive poetry performance, ‘Mind Control Victims Anonymous’ (MCVA). An evolving work, MCVA uses scripted and improvisational actions as a starting point to explore mental health, free will, coercion and the relationship between an audience and a performer. First produced for the Supernormal Festival Artists Residency (2019), and since performed in various venues across the UK, the piece contains a mixture of scripted and improvised moments and is designed with the potential to continue indefinitely.

Due to its interactive nature, each performance is unique. The poem follows a surreal narrative, a dreamlike first-person account of a speaker attempting to understand their place in the world. Various junctions in the poem offer the opportunity for the audience to vote between two narrative paths. The performance-workshop lasted for approximately 2 hours, with the second half centring on discussion.