Renowned and celebrated theatre and performance group Forced Entertainment are doing a marathon of their latest show Quizoola! at the Barbican this weekend. There’s potential free entry for early birds in the quiet hours of 6am to midday, in the 24 hour non stop performance that goes from midnight on Friday till the clock strikes 12 again on Saturday night. I can’t wait.

Forced Ent. describe the performance

Performed by all 6 core members of the company this unique show mixes a game-like structure with improvisation to create an atmosphere full of live energy. Alternating pairs of performers sit in a circle of lights wearing smeared clown make-up and ask each other an avalanche of questions, as if taking part in some post-apocalyptic end of the pier show. Some questions are banal, others philosophical, some a matter of general knowledge and others deeply personal. As the performers invent the answers on the spot the mood shifts from intimate chat to pub quiz to police interrogation.

In the previous 6 hour renditions of the performance, the questions all have come from Tim Etchells and the company. This time round, to source more of life’s questions, Forced Entertainment have asked audiences to submit ten questions for them to choose from in this weekend’s full day extravaganza.

Tim Etchells of Forced Entertainment contributed a piece to Platform’s publication ‘Not if but when: Culture Beyond Oil’, which looked at the importance of public funding for the arts. So I thought I’d send through a few oil sponsorship related questions for this extended Quizoola! to see what the company would respond with – especially given that the location for the performance, Barbican, is also host to Shell’s Annual General Meeting.

Here’s the questions I proposed – please feel free to comment with you answers, and if you go to the performance, let me know if you hear them get asked! I know it’s 11 questions and they asked for 10, but each step in the build up feels necessary.

1. What was the first thing you ever did for money?

2. Did you ever steal money from your siblings?

3. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done as an artist that you were really only in it for the money?

4. What jobs have you done to support yourself as an artist?

5. If you had to represent your personal debt, if, say, the size of your shoe is £1000, how many pin steps would you have to take away from me?

6. Are there any companies that you would love to get sponsored by to do performance work?

7. Are there any companies you would never take money from?

8. Whose the biggest artist sell-out ever in the history of all ideas and projects that are considered art?

9. Do you think its a bit shit that Tate takes money from BP?

10. Do you think its also a bit shit that Southbank takes money from Shell?

11. How does it feel sitting on the stage at Barbican where Shell Oil Plc have held their annual general meetings?