Sewing machine first rehearsals

Horace's story is about leg amputation and I thought the sewing machines would fit and work well with this story. This is down to the way the sewing machines fix and repair things, they put things together while leg amputation is about taking off and removing; and I really like the contrast between the too.

My first idea was having four women at each sewing machine; sewing together these pieces of fabric (handkerchiefs from behind maybe) to create this massive material which is made up of all this individual handkerchiefs. Reflecting how the war was made up of lot of individuals which were put together to create this mass army - essentially not being individual anymore but one.

When we started playing around, I like the way the fabric falls. And the way it was falling, to me, reminds me of how his toe 'fell off' in the story - him loosing his leg and leaving a part of him behind - so this movement of the fabric falling down will hopefully aesthetically help this idea. We rehearsed on quite a low table but will need this is be much higher to get the falling effect!







Sewing the parts together idea will hopefully pop up somewhere else in another story during rehearsals we will find a place for it...