This presentation focuses on the work of Tim Crouch. In particular, it focuses on three pieces of his work. "An Oak Tree" (2005), "England" (2007) and "The Author" (2009)

1. Tim Crouch
“ALL THIS IS ART.” (ENGLAND, 2007)

2. Texts to Observe:
 An Oak Tree (2005)
 ENGLAND (2007)
 The Author (2009)

3. Tim Crouch
 Playwright, Performer, Director etc…
 Performance is about including an audience – not excluding it.
 Focused on the idea that each audience member takes something away from his
work rather than watching it passively.

4. Autosuggestion
 Bases his idea of French Psychologist and Pharmacist, Emile Coué and his theory
of autosuggestion.
 Audience become an active performer – They are not voyeurs (Ie. ENGLAND Act
2).
 The audience/performer becomes something by being suggested that they are
that thing rather than being asked to mimic that role.

5.  “He facilitated the healing of the sick by getting them to think that they were well.
He never claimed he cured them but that they cured themselves.” (TEDx Talks,
2017).
 Mainly used for the play An Oak Tree.
 Still highly relevant in ENGLAND and The Author.

6. An Oak Tree (2005)
 Performed at the Traverse Theatre in 2005.
 Sequel to My Arm.
 Focuses on the idea of guilt in which a hypnotist tries to embarrass a father to
help the hypnotist forget an incident involving the father’s daughter and himself.

7. Structure of the play
 Two actors perform the text.
 Hypnotist – Tim Crouch.
 Father – Random person who is picked by Tim 1 hour before the performance. They
are given a set of headphones to wear throughout the entire show.
 “They walk on stage having neither seen nor read a word of the play they’re in… until
they’re in it.” (Tim Crouch Theatre, 2007).
 Meta-theatrical – We are able to be lost in the fiction of the play but are also reminded
it is fiction as it feels like we are actually watching a hypnotism act.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIf3a49W_iI

8. ENGLAND (2007)
 Performed at the Fruitmarket Gallery.
 Tells the story of one person’s journey to have a heart transplant.
 Clash of cultures.
 Act 1 – Audience become part of a tour around the gallery.
 Act 2 – Audience becomes a third character called “The Wife”.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQ07Wmt_6E

9. “Thank you… You saved my life”
 Phenomenological experience for each member of the audience.
 Audience are left to work out the clues and realise the clash of culture.
 “ENGLAND, in particular, highlights the fact that very much the same physical and
ideological features apply in white-walled galleries all over the world, allowing for
a smooth global circulation of art objects” (Bottoms, 2011, 447).

10. The Author (2009)
 Meta-theatrical – Two actors, one playwright and an audience member recount their
experience of performing, writing and observing a supposed play by Tim Crouch.
 Set in the Royal Court Jerwood Theatre Upstairs. It must always stay in the same
location wherever it is performed.
 Play revolves heavily on the idea of audience participation. The actors are in the
audience throughout the entirety of the play.
 Contains extremely shocking themes such as the ideas of exposure, violence and
sexually driven acts.

11.  “The Author is a play about what it is to be a spectator and about our
responsibilities as spectators. It explores the connection between what we see and
what we do. I feel strongly that we have lost a thread of responsibility for what we
choose to look at. The Author uses only words to show us things and sometimes
the things those words show us are disturbing. It is not a play for children but it IS
a play for audiences.” (Tim Crouch Theatre, 2009)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0frcePdLnJg

12. Bibliography:
 Bottoms, S. (2011) Materialising the Audience: Tim Crouch’s Sight Specifics in ENGLAND and The Author. Contemporary Theatre Review, 21(4) 445-463.
 juliageek (2005) An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch [video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIf3a49W_iI&t=319s [accessed 16 February 2018].
 juliageek (2007) Tim Crouch: England [video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeQ07Wmt_6E [accessed 14 February 2018].
 Tedx Talks (2017) The Art of Autosuggestion – Tim Crouch – TEDxRoyalCentralSchool [video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pb11GYJ7wY
[accessed 12 February 2018].
 Tim Crouch Theatre (2007) An Oak Tree. Available from http://www.timcrouchtheatre.co.uk/shows-2/an-oak-tree [accessed 18 February 2018].
 Tim Crouch Theatre (2009) The Author. Available from http://www.timcrouchtheatre.co.uk/shows-2/the-author/the-author [accessed 18 February 2018].
 Traverse Theatre (2010) The Author by Time Crouch.wmv [video]. Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0frcePdLnJg [accessed 18 February 2018].