Photo: Richard Haughton
Institute, the physical and visual theatre work from UK company Gecko which is presented at the Seymour Centre as part of the Sydney Festival, is extraordinary. The work takes many aspects of Western society that are hidden or taboo and confronts them fearlessly.
The four male performers, Chris Evans, Amit Lahav, Ruen Perkins-Gangnes and François Tertory are all wonderful. Their intense involvement and commitment to the work is visible in every pore of their bodies. These are physical performances which explore transformation and embodiment in a way that transcends individual ego or stage presence, so that the performers become channels or vessels for different states of being. They are utterly compelling.
The inventive set design by Rhys Jarman and Amit Lahav, with its over-sized filing cabinets placed all around the stage, allows the performers to pull sliding sections out of them and transform the environment instantly.
The trajectory of the work moves from the petty rituals of the office, to the segregating of the dying in hospices, to the isolation of the mentally ill in institutions. In some cases, such as the moment of death when an old man dies falling backwards onto a hospital bed and then vanishing through it into the darkness beneath, the work acts as a momento mori which is experienced on a profound kinaesthetic level. It raises goosebumps. But this same image is then repeated. In fact repeated many times during one section of the piece. Strangely the image never loses its potency but instead moves beyond the personal level of the momento mori to become instead a political statement about the ways in which death is hidden from view, and how so many people in this society face the experience of dying alone and isolated through the institutionalisation of the normal human process of death.
It makes for dark viewing and this is not comfortable work. Insitute is allusive and profound theatre exploring some of the most isolating structures in Western society. The work acts as a Foucauldian indictment of Western society’s processes of institutionalisation. This is theatre that calls for thought, calls for a radical re-thinking of the social and political structures that bind us and separate us from one from another.
The final section, which integrates spoken Indian rhythms and unison group movement, stands separate from the rest of the work. This is a rich and multilayered piece with many possible readings, however this part of the work can be read as a reminder that we are not the sum of our institutions, we are so much more, and, that as people we have the power to reconnect with each other and find our shared humanity.
A not-to-be-missed experience that it is both moving and profound.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Institute
Everest Theatre, The Seymour Centre
25-28 January 2017
Sydney Festival
7-29 January 2017
www.sydneyfestival.org.au
