[First filed: Oct 26, 2010 @ 15:23]
‘…the body is deeper than the soul and its secrets inscrutable.’ E. M. Forster
For 3 performances only, Tableau artist and Canberra Critics Circle 2009 Artist of the Year, Min Mae maps a ‘pathway through vulnerability’ – experimenting with the human animal’s most essential means of communication – the wordless gesture.
A multi-form piece, Still Standing combines live music with the distinctive theatrical elements Min Mae has become renowned for. The work seeks to translate the rich and complex history of its performers’ lives in an empathic exchange with the audience. Stripping back the layers of clothing, ego, and language in a quest to rebalance the mind | body battle, the performers reveal something deeper by far than mere flesh.
Still Standing emerges from 2009’s I Die – Min Mae’s powerful response to ‘living with the desire to die’. In a way, this new work sees Min walk backwards – through the life stories of her performers – unearthing the autobiographical body in what is a primal excavation of the human heart.
Central to the work is the key question: how does one keep going?
Performers Jordan Best, Alison McGregor, and Michael Ellis undergo what Min Mae terms ‘trials of influence’ – those moments or events in a human life that push it inexorably towards its future. Live music – including original compositions played by Guitarist Geordie Malone and Cellist Spike Thompson, and an evocative, interactive lighting design by Gillian Schwab, provide symbolic representations of these elements that figure within a life’s story.
Still Standing plays @ THE STREET THEATRE, Childers Street |Canberra City West
Thursday 28th – Saturday 30th October @ 8pm
STANDARD – $20 | CONCESSION – $15
Street Two – unreserved
FOR ALL ENQUIRIES and BOOKINGS CALL 6247 1223 or go to www.thestreet.org.au