Confirmation

Chris Thorpe, Rachel Chavkin

• Editorial: Oberon Books
• Año: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781783196531
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Medios de comunicación y artes escénicas
• Categoría: Teatro

Winner of a Scotsman Fringe First Award 2014 If you pinned me against a wall and put a gun to my head, I'd probably admit to being a liberal. Actually if you pinned me against a wall and put a gun to my head, I'd probably admit to being whatever you wanted me to be. And of course, putting a gun to my head is exactly what I'd expect from someone likeyou. Confirmation is a show about the gulf between beliefs that we can't talk across.About our knee-jerk dismissal of the opposing viewpoint. About the echo chamberof agreement and validation we live in. About the way we choose only to see theevidence that proves we're right. A new solo show from a multi Fringe First winning team: written and performed by Chris Thorpe (Unlimited Theatre, Third Angel), developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin (The TEAM).

ON MIC

In the British Legion Club, in the upstairs room, we are talking about what to wear for the demonstration.

And one man won’t shut up.

One man is saying, that the Pakistanis are cowards. They know the tide is turning, and it is now possible for a white to argue that they, the white, have been the victim of a racial attack. And this now protects white people because the Pakistanis, the Asians, are cowards, and for you and me, no matter how much they hate us, they are not prepared to do ten years in prison.

And the guy in charge says gently, wearily. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks John. Thanks. We know this. And everyone in the room understands, and they give the guy in charge the authority to do that, even though he doesn’t, honestly, naturally possess it. There has to be at least an agreement on this though – that someone is in charge. If we’re all to believe that we are here for something.

Thanks John. Thanks.

Thanks.

We are very polite here. We do not use racial language. Because we are not racists.

Now what’s the best thing to wear for the demonstration at the immigration building?

And John opens his mouth –

Thanks John. Thanks.

But John wants to be heard.

I always wear my badge on public transport. I’m not ashamed of who I am.

I know, John, but I was thinking, warm clothes. It’s going to be October. Keep your T-shirts under your clothes till you get there. If there’s any trouble it will happen before we get there. If the leftists attack us they will do it when we’re isolated. So if you’re travelling alone, please take care not to identify yourself. And there is not a coach. Croydon’s not far enough to justify the expense of a coach so if you don’t want to travel alone there’ll be a group of us going on the train from Victoria.

And if we all stand together, they will see us.

What we are looking for is hearts and minds. There is a silent majority. Yes John, they are silent. But we know they’re out there. They will be speeding past in their cars. We only have that short time. For our dignity to make an impression.

OFF MIC

And John – John does wear his badge on public transport. I know this because later, we are going the same way, and I take the train home with him. And John says, several times, how unashamed he is to wear his badge on public transport. He says this in the middle of a lot of other things about the beneficial health effects of Irish dancing and how he loves debating politics with a lesbian barmaid he knows – not one of the evil lesbians that runs the BBC, but one of the rare ones who is tolerant of political views other than her own. And he says all this as the carriage heads west back into London and fills up with faces that the badge clearly says shouldn’t be in this country. And I become genuinely worried. Embarrassed and worried. Because John is quite obviously not a well man. But I realise that the badge is small, and after all a lot of the people on this train will not be able to understand John because he talks so fast and his accent is so strong that I struggle. And I am sitting right next to him. And I have been listening to him all fucking afternoon. And to be honest a lot of the people on this train, their first language probably isn’t English, and so John’s accent, and the smallness of the badge, and what I assume to be their lesser awareness of the aims of his organisation are maybe shields keeping him safe and us from any awkward confrontations.

I get off the train slightly before I have to, though, even though it’s more inconvenient. Even though it means an extra change of line. Because I just can’t stand the embarrassment and the sheer fucking effort of being near John for much longer.

And that’s when I decided that as research for this show, I needed to speak to someone one on one. Who, like me, didn’t feel they needed to be a member of anything. So it really wasn’t worth going to BNP meetings any more.

…………………

We’re going to do a little bit of science now.

Don’t worry – it’s the only bit of science you’ll be asked to do in this show. And it’s very simple.

If there are any scientists in the room, it’s actually psychology.

If there are any psychologists here, I firmly believe that psychology is a science, so. You know. Anyone who laughed at what I just said – you can take it up with them later.

But if you are familiar with this experiment, keep quiet. Don’t blow it for everyone else.

I’m gonna put three numbers down on the floor. You lot over there will have to imagine them the other way up. That’s fine. You look like you can handle that.

2.
4.
And 6.

There is a rule that governs this set of three numbers – that explains why these numbers are in the order they are. All I want you to do is, I want you to think of what that rule might be. In your head – because our heads are the only tool we’ve got to work with.

Have you all got one?

Now I want you to come up with another set of three numbers that you could use to test that rule you’ve just come up with.

Would anyone be willing to share their set of three numbers? Just the set of three numbers you would use to test your rule.

CHRIS takes three sets of numbers from three audience members – if a set of numbers also fits the rule CHRIS has in his head, he gives the audience member a sweet. The rule CHRIS is using would permit ANY set of three ascending numbers. (If an audience member’s numbers don’t fit the rule they don’t get a sweet – ‘Because it would devalue the sweets I’ve just given to the other one/two of you’).

Fantastic. Congratulations! All your numbers fit my rule. (OR Your numbers fit my rule – and yours didn’t – but hang on to them – it doesn’t mean you’ve failed a test or anything.)

My rule was really simple – just any set of ascending numbers. And you can see how your numbers would have fitted into that. But that is actually NOT the point of the experiment. The point of the experiment is much more interesting.

Just out of curiosity – May I ask what your rules were?

The audience members give their rules – generally they will have used numbers that fit the rules they have come up with. If one or more hasn’t, they can be pointed out in the next section as a rarity – people who haven’t acted according to their unconscious confirmation bias.

You three, and probably most of us in this room, your brains are working perfectly. What you have all done, is exactly what we have all evolved to do.

What you did – and what I did when I first came across this experiment – is choose numbers designed to confirm the rule that you came up with – the view you already hold. So if your rule was ascending even numbers, for example, then you put in three ascending even numbers.

This experiment’s been run since the 60s, it’s a classic psychology experiment – and only a tiny minority of people ever do something different – ever choose three numbers that are designed to challenge the rule they’ve come up with. Ever try to prove themselves wrong. Which, if you think about it, would be the more useful thing to do.

If someone HAS challenged their own rule with the numbers they chose – point out that they are part of that tiny minority.

We have evolved to be beings that see in the world evidence that supports the poi...