Interview with Darcey Lightfoot

Darcey is in her second year studying Drama and Theatre. Her main interests are within the art and theatre world cross-over, especially the idea that our bodies are moving art forms creating expressionist pieces. She is keen to explore conceptual art and the extra dimensions it adds within performances.

SEB: For this interview, I’m joined by Drama and Theatre Studies student Darcey Lightfoot, talking about her essay on Yin Xiuzhen performance piece ‘Washing the River.’ If you could start by telling us about your piece and what interested you in this particular topic. 

DARCEY: This performative piece is by Yin Xiuzhen, who sought to raise awareness of environmental destruction brought along by industrialisation, and she does a lot of other work about it. ‘Washing the River’ was a ten cubic-metre structure made by the polluted water of the Funan river. It’s frozen into several large blocks, and her performance was to have spectators and onlookers come by, invited with brushes and mops, to symbolically wash away the dirty water as a way of cleansing it, as the ice slowly melted back into the river. Within the essay I looked into the debate of how the active piece ignited debates around environmentalism and anthropocene. I researched closely the effects of her spectatorship, and whether that was beneficial in raising awareness in a more active way. I was interested in her specifically because I love three main things: feminism, conceptual art, and environmentalism. Xiuzhen really stood out to me, being an artist myself. 

SEB: When you’re focusing on one specific performer, breaking it down into those parts is really interesting. It sounds like there’s a lot of moving parts within the essay, so how did you go about planning, researching and drafting this piece? 

DARCEY: Because I knew about her work already, and because I get easily distracted by the conceptual art, I wanted to pinpoint what I wanted to focus on. When it came to the planning of it, I made sure I gave myself loads of time, because I’m not very good at drafts! As soon as I get given an essay question, I timetable my deadlines, and I give myself enough time for the planning, because I want to be able to refine it so I can get my main points across. I do lots of paragraphs or bits of writing that I split over multiple documents, and then a separate one when I copy and paste them all together, so I have all my ideas as a brainstorm on the page. Then, I go through the notes and refine them down, and I give myself a couple of days where I type out the paragraphs of the key parts I really like and that I think are relevant. I have to make sure that I’m staying interested in what I’m writing, because otherwise I’m not able to type! I love her as an artist and I’m fascinated by her work, so I want to make sure I get the relevant points across. From this, the planning and the researching become easier. Ultimately, I make sure that I give myself a huge chunk of time for researching and timetabling, so I can refine my research before I think about planning or drafting. After that, it’s an easier writing process.

SEB: You say that you have to remain interested while you’re writing it as well, I feel like that can definitely change how it would read to other people. It sounds like a nearly impossible thing to organise! I was wondering if there were any particular articles or books that you instantly knew you could use? 

DARCEY: You only have 2500 words to write about something that really fascinates you, so you have to have articles that really stand out. I use Google Scholar, and there are hundreds of options there. I have this book that I love, it’s called Women’s Work: From Feminine Artists to Feminist Art,’ which is wear I first came across Xiuzhen’s artwork. Within my bibliography, you’ll see other works I’ve looked into. My advice would be to look into what your department gives you. Some of the work is linked so closely to the arguments you’re trying to make - when I go through my plan, I tend not to look for points that stand out, but more so what could be the debating argument, and I often find closely linked arguments. For me, I found arguments that centred around the environment and anthropocene. When it came to actually writing my work, and articulating what I wanted to say, these articles made it easier to get my point across. 

SEB: What would you say you have gained from this essay? That could be something about the artist, the topic in particular, or it could be a way of structuring or styling the essay that has been beneficial to you. 

DARCEY: I learnt how to plan out my work in a structured way. I have quite a chaotic way of working, so I learnt to trust my gut when it came to the actual writing of it. I know when I’m writing about something I like I can make sense of all my notes, so I can take that knowledge onto another essay. It’s not about what others do - I can trust myself to take notes in the way that works best for me. It will all come together if you give yourself the time. Compared to my other essays where I’ve had to write about only one thing in particular, being able to write about lots of different things and make a more refined essay this time was challenging but much more beneficial and rewarding as an end result. 

SEB: Part of the aim of First Ink is to bring attention to academic writing in the School of PDA, in subjects where performance often takes the front seat, and academic writing is often left on the backfoot. What would be your advice for someone writing in drama?

DARCEY: Give yourself time to plan the essays! Some people work better under pressure, and though drama students love the pressure of being on stage, to get a piece of decent writing, you’ll find it so much easier to give yourself deadlines. I’d give myself a task for the day, to research something, for example, and I’d give myself a manageable bit of pressure to do it. The research and the planning will give you the end result. You don’t have to over-complicated it, you just need to trust the process and have a clearly laid-out and easy-to-read timetable. There’s something called the twenty-five rule, where you work for twenty minutes and break for five, so you can see how much you can give yourself to do in that space of time before taking a break and coming back to it after. I often carry my notes around open on my phone, and jot down ideas when I’m out. If I suddenly think of something, I write it down while it’s still on my mind, and then organise all of it later. Work on finding out as much that interests you as possible, then worry about refining it later. Don’t put yourself under too much pressure to write, as this will come so much more easily if you have the notes there. I’d also find a good file layout that works for you - I use Notion, which helps visualise it more for me. Most importantly, find a research process that allows you to get everything out on the page so you don’t miss an idea. Don’t leave yourself under pressure to do good research - it doesn’t work in the long run!