PLEASE was brought together by our group’s shared interest in club culture and the desire, risk, joy, hope, transgression, and delusion that come with it. We were curious about what makes up the ingredients of “the best night out of your life” and the ecstatic emotion that connects humans to their aliveness in the pursuit of a night out. We loved the hopefulness it represented and the stage it gives an individual, even if the night often didn’t deliver on its promise. We didn’t yet know why this was important, but we knew it was a common spark worth pursuing as an undercurrent of our SIP.

 

Morgan had seen a gig theatre piece at Fringe called The Gods The Gods The Gods. a concert-style musical that was both entertaining and emotional, where performers created a shared moment of connection and acknowledgement with the audience. We listened to it on repeat and became inspired to create a sound-led piece with music that charted an emotional arc. We were also united by a shared taste for maximalism, mess, and spectacle. We realized that maximalism felt transgressive in a society focused on usefulness and productivity, and it felt fraught in a climate crisis era fueled by overconsumption. But we knew there was magic in the flamboyance and extravagance of spectacle—it felt as if, as a spectator of these shows, you were living in another utopian world.

 

Why were we drawn to maximalism? We were drawn to explore Adam Alston’s Staging Decadence, a text that highlights why decadence, often regarded as excessive, wasteful, or unnecessary, can be a tool to expose our obsession with capitalism. According to Alston:

 

“Decadence is an art of border crossing. Decadence relies on borders in order to breach them—for instance, by staging the undoing of gendered types and binaries… or by transgressing the mores that shape the horizons of social acceptability, especially where sexuality, taste, and demeanor are concerned.” (p. 143)

 

We wanted this show to be decadent, and we wanted to stage excess, even though we didn’t fully understand why.

 

In the first week of working together, we discussed our perfect night out. What was it about a night out that was so compelling to each of us? After a winding conversation recounting various nights and experiences, we realized we all secretly loved the attention it provided. Whether it was lighting up the dance floor or lighting up a cigarette in the smoking section while charming a fellow clubber, we loved the quest for attention and the unpredictability that a night out gave us, a type of in-real-life unpredictability that was occurring less often as convenience, clearly defined interactions, and digital communication became more pervasive in everyday life. The club was a place for chance and catharsis.

 

We outlined the “perfect” night: cocktails to chat, play games, and settle into anticipation; followed by a pub where “the boring ones would peel off”; and finally a space with sweaty, committed dancing. Talking to strangers. Bathroom and smoking area chats. Eye contact on the dance floor. We reflected on how our experiences shifted depending on whether we were in a relationship or not. Being married or in a long-term relationship meant certain possibilities were off the table, whereas single folks had more opportunities to let the night take them into someone’s arms or lips, making it more compelling to stay out until the last song or be bolder. In the nerves and excitement of a new project group, we tried out this night out ourselves.

 

Key takeaways from our night out:

• Games make pre-parties more fun.

• The most exciting moments were sprinting, then stopping abruptly to snap a photo (three times), chatting with strangers on the bus, capturing a video while we were dancing on the floor singing our hearts out, and the games played before we left.

• So much of the club experience is watching and being watched.

• Each of our ideal destinations (after the pre-party) was very different (gay bar, dancing only, dancing with chatting, sing-along vs. techno, etc.)

 

The divergence in our experiences that night, combined with our shared love for the idea of a night out and for high-energy spaces, marked our journey through the SIP project.