SEX.VIOLENCE.BLOOD.GORE
Repressed sexuality and secret desires will burst out of their dark closets in this confronting performance about peeling away society’s perception of normality. Alfian Bin Sa’at’s sex.violence.blood.gore. was first performed in 1999 in a basement in Singapore, but here in Sydney, director Stephen Nicolazzo assures its themes are just as relevant.
“It features a mixed bag of scenarios all dealing with the issue of consequence, culture and sex… of going against strict regimes and allowing your sexuality to be removed from that society.”
The play features a heightened performance style with comic moments of repressed sexuality and elements of the absurd. Nicolazzo quotes a number of inspirations, from the all-female Japanese Takarazuka Revue to Madonna’s Erotica era.
“The idea was to comment on Western perceptions of the Oriental, and the imperialist regime of Victorian influence in Eastern countries. It’s a hybrid of this sexy Victorian bondage and the veneer of the traditional Chinese opera-maker.”
The play’s central aim – in addition to challenging and entertaining its audience – is to represent these elements of repression onstage.
“It’s easy to dissociate yourself from an Eastern culture or something seemingly alien to you… but we ourselves are still repressed, whether we admit it or not.”
Sep 4-8, The Old Fitzroy Theatre, 129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, $25-33, 1300 241 167, rocksurfers.org
