Michael Cousin

This short film was a result of not knowing which ‘space’ I was in. Some of my earlier work has resulted from filming in public spaces, placing myself amongst the hundreds of other people taking pictures and shooting footage. In the public space yet not.


Within this footage I was unknowingly in the moment of transition between ‘public’ space and ‘audience’ space. My children were at my side and I was just filming the crowd as were many others. As reality is slowly replaced by fiction I was interested in the control of images. How anyone in that crowd, whether cast or audience, could appear in a photograph or video without their consent or control. How we have voluntarily surrendered the way we are represented in the public domain depending whether we are in the public, corporate or government space.

Shot on my camera phone in Port Talbot whilst watching Michael Sheen’s the Passion earlier this year. This moment came at the very beginning of the day when no-one in the audience knew what was production and what was real-life. What we thought was the Mayor of Port Talbot gave an introductory speech about how marvellous it was that the town had a guest arriving of such standing (expecting it to be Michael Sheen). Then he drew our attention to some speedboats approaching on the horizon and the crowds flocked down to the sea front in order to get a look at the star arriving. What happened then was the slow dawning of realisation that fact had been replaced with fiction long before we got to the beach.


Part of a National Theatre of Wales Production:

http://nationaltheatrewales.org/whatson/performance/ntw13