‘Clap for Carers’: A Sonic and Phenomenological Performance
Molly reflects on ‘Clap for Carers’, five years after the social movement took the Covid-stricken British public by storm. Through the lens of the phenomenology of performance, she reveals the seemingly simple act of clapping to be one of immersion, sonic impact and contradictory political implications…
‘Clap for Carers’ was a social movement in Britain during the COVID-19 pandemic, growing from the public’s desire to show thanks to frontline workers while creating a sense of community. The movement was inspired by other European countries and their displays of appreciation during the crisis. It lasted in Britain for ten weeks, from 26 March 2020 to 28 May 2020 with a shocking 37 million participants.[1] Originally, the movement was just aimed at NHS workers, however, soon all ‘heroes’ and key workers were recognized. Every Thursday night the British public would appear from front doors, windows and balconies to routinely show their gratitude and appreciation. Through application of a phenomenological perspective, by focusing on audience participation, political manipulation and the nature of clapping, 'Clap for Carers’ can be viewed as a performance which impacted the public sonically.
The primitive act of moving your hands together to make a polite noise of appreciation is a socialized norm. It is socialized in the sense that it’s expected after a performance, as a reaction, not to be the performance. Sonically, ‘Clap for Carers’ progressed over the ten weeks as participants’ expressions moved from clapping to banging pots, playing instruments, honking car horns and even in extreme circumstances setting off fireworks. In response to these fireworks, the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA) stated that they were disappointed that ‘a moment of genuine appreciation for key workers [turned] into a competition to see who can make the most noise.’[2] However, this competitive spirit offered a further phenomenological reaction as the participant’s sonic expression transgressed and was visualised in colour and a traditional means of celebration. The phenomenology of competition suggests that the main drive to ‘win’ is to prove one’s superiority, yet in a time of loneliness and isolation the reward was simply interaction.[3] Although participants were distance-restricted, these interactions were still made physical in a way as T. J. Bacon states that ‘sound passes through bodies and walls […] touching the eardrums, organs, bones and minds of those present’.[4] This connection contributes to Maurice Mearleu-Ponty’s sentiments that ‘it is the invisible of this world, that which inhabits this world, sustains it and renders it visible.’[5] The invisible nature of the virus COVID-19 was fought in spirit by invisible sound in a time of fear and hysteria.
Despite the immense impact of this sonic expression, ‘Clap for Carers’ ignored the notion that clapping was a valid form of appreciation for frontline workers who were risking their health and lives. While the public can’t raise these workers’ wages, the politicians who were filmed by news outlets such as BBC and ITV clapping from their multi-million-pound homes certainly can. Instead of utilising their power for genuine change, politicians abused this movement as a chance to humanise themselves, manipulating this artistic smokescreen into propaganda. These neoliberal tendencies feed into political philosopher, Robert Nozick’s, term ‘experience machine’.[6] Nozick suggests that immersive art offers the audience thrilling, enchanting or challenging aesthetic experiences in the form of an ‘experience machine’ which ‘stimulates the brain to artificially induce desired experiences.’ Concerning ‘Clap for Carers’, the world of COVID-19 was in a way its own strange ‘experience machine’; offering a challenging reality from which small moments like ‘Clap for Carers’ allowed refuge. When applying this terminology, it could equally be proposed that this performance had a ‘cast’ of 37 million, a ‘run date’ of ten weeks and a ‘run-time’ of just one minute. Furthermore, participants followed lockdown rules like ‘stage directions’, remaining at least two metres apart from others. Viewing ‘Clap for Carers’ through this lens emphasizes its nature as an immersive aesthetic experience.
Furthermore, the mass scale of participants that contributed to this performance created a sense of much-needed community and solidarity, offering connection in a time of loneliness and fear. The rare beauty of technology and social media connected the nation during lockdown and brought the concept of ‘Clap for Carers’ to life. Connection was highly sought after during a time of physical and mental isolation. In my own experience, it gave me and my family something to look forward to, to intervene in the restlessness of lockdown. Neuropsychologist Catherine Loveday, wrote in the early days of ‘Clap for Carers’, ‘the effects we felt last Thursday go beyond learned association and feeling grateful … what many of us found for those few minutes was a much-needed sense of human connection and belonging.’[7] However, this connection wasn’t necessarily joyful as the small Scottish town of Kirkaldy, as well as other towns, spent the minute booing for Boris.[8] This is equally an expression of community and solidarity. Whether in positive or negative spirits, the UK has experienced few movements which have impacted the nation so drastically. Queen Elizabeth even stated that ‘Clap for Carers’ was ‘an expression of our national spirit’.[9] Of course, the key impact here was the virus itself, yet the sonically charged movement of ‘Clap for Carers’ is what united the nation.
The ‘Clap for Carers’ movement represents a nuanced and multifaceted era of British history. Sonically, the British public was united during a period of global darkness. Some perceive this period as participants were immersed in a mutual sense of grief and joy. However, others analyse it as a self-fulfilling distraction from the boredom of lockdown. The politicisation of the movement does not help this perspective. Ultimately, each phenomenological account of this aesthetic experience offers a unique take, depending on the spectator’s field of perception. No matter what that take is, the unwavering truth is that ‘Clap for Carers’ united the nation, it may have only been for ten minutes, but it was a performance unlike any other.
[1] Jill Manthorpe and others, ‘Clapping for carers in the Covid-19 crisis: Carers' reflections in a UK survey’, Health & social care in the community, 30 (2021), 1442-1449 <https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13474> [Accessed: 26 April 2024], YouGov. (2020), Survey results. Retrieved from <https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/cvz3k50tmj/Internal_ClapforCarers_200529.pdf> [Accessed 26 April 2024].
[2] Sam Mackay, ‘Polite Applause: The sonic politics of ‘Clap for Carers.’’, Organised Sound, 26: 2, (2021), 211-218.
[3] Scott Kretchmar ‘A phenomenology of competition’, Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 41: 1 (2013), 21–37.
[4] T. J. Bacon, An Introduction to the Phenomenology of Performance Art: SELF/s (Intellect, Limited, 2022), ProQuest Ebook Central.
[5] Maurice Mearleu-Ponty, The Visible and the Invisible, ed. by Claude Lefort, (North-western University Press, 2000), pg. 151.
[6] Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia, (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1974) pp. 42-45.
[7] Catherine Loveday, ‘Coronavirus: Why Clapping for Carers Feels so Strangely Uplifting’, in The Conversation, 31 March 2020, <http://theconversation.com/coronavirus-why-clapping-for-carers-feels-so-strangely-uplifting-135092> [Accessed 6 August 2021].
[8] Magdalene Dalzeil, ‘Scots town out in force in Boo for Boris event confess 'We did it because he's a muppet', Daily Record, 2020, <https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scots-town-out-force-boo-22095240> [Accessed: 26 April 2024].
[9] BBC, ‘‘We will meet again’ – The Queen’s Coronavirus broadcast’, YouTube, 5 April 2020, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klmuggOElE> [Accessed: 26 April 2024].