I’m in a packed viewers on the Battersea Arts Centre to look at Back to Back Theatre’s present The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes, and questioning what attracts individuals to see an Australian theatre firm removed from dwelling. Like others, I’m serious about entry and incapacity. And then there’s that bizarre title: who’s the prey, and who’s the hunter? Whatever the rationale, we’re right here as people who’re very completely different, however alike in sharing the identical expertise: the fundamental situation of stay theatre, certainly? And one way or the other, by the top of the night, this deceptively easy play…
Rating
Excellent
An immensely pleasant, revelatory, and articulate manufacturing that cleverly reframes perceptions of disabled individuals with humour and mental problem.
I’m in a packed viewers on the Battersea Arts Centre to look at Back to Back Theatre’s present The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes, and questioning what attracts individuals to see an Australian theatre firm removed from dwelling. Like others, I’m serious about entry and incapacity. And then there’s that bizarre title: who’s the prey, and who’s the hunter? Whatever the rationale, we’re right here as people who’re very completely different, however alike in sharing the identical expertise: the fundamental situation of stay theatre, certainly? And one way or the other, by the top of the night, this deceptively easy play immerses me in a exceptional relationship that brings about that very same conclusion. What may very well be a simple ‘us and them’ story by disabled actors turns into a fascinatingly intricate exploration of behaviours, shared tasks and penalties.
In a group corridor in Geelong, Australia three disabled activists put together for a public assembly. Sarah Mainwaring and Scott Price put out chairs, while an enormous captioning board captures their speech, changing it to textual content. The AI mistypes, deletes and rewrites their phrases. Scott is mansplaining to Sarah: mockingly, he’s performing the patronising angle so usually related to talking to the disabled. It’s superbly dry humour that instantly places us comfy. They bodily divide off the auditorium house with a strip of tape, separating the viewers and performers; marking our distinction.
Joined by Simon Laherty, their assembly begins with a reminder that the corridor is on Wadawarrung land. The viewers laughs because the identify of the aboriginal tribe is mispronounced and mistyped on the board, and Simon declares it’s too laborious to take the time to right it. And proper there, we’re stopped in our tracks. They have us questioning our insensitive behaviour. How disrespectful is that laughter? A precedent is ready: a recognition of wrongs needing to be righted. And now we’re all a part of that course of.
This is a fancy, thought of and enormously humorous manufacturing, articulated with readability and aptitude by Bruce Gladwin’s course. It offers with important points, from discrimination in opposition to the disabled, to id, sexual politics, and primary human rights. It shockingly reveals a historical past of abuse of the disabled via Hasbro boardgames: who knew Buckaroo leaves us all complicit? Complicated concepts are eloquently expressed by the crafted script and exquisitely paced performances, while Lachlan Carrick’s evocative sound design bringing emphasis and vitality precisely the place required.
These characters are clearly not merely “activists with intellectual disabilities”. They have differing opinions; they’re weak; they’re vastly humorous (Scott’s epic rise to energy made me snicker out loud). They are revealed as people, whose idiosyncrasies resist a single definition. The gifted solid carry out stereotypes solely to flip them: to problem viewers responses, and disrupt accepted energy dynamics. It’s staggeringly efficient.
In a chilling flip, the enormous captions board insidiously turns into a fourth character. Translating their phrases, the AI has energy to regulate the voices of the disabled, and we the readers put our humanity in danger by complacently utilizing such know-how to bypass human interplay with them. We all danger being disabled by such actions, and people ‘second class citizens’ are the consultants we’ll look to for assist. It’s a stark, well-executed argument that left me needing time to mirror.
As the present concludes the stage is cleared and the ‘meeting’ ends. The dividing strip is eliminated: a reminder that all of us share the identical house and a worldwide expertise: our lives are interdependent.
This is a placing, thought-provoking piece a couple of world of mutual duty, ethics, and our shared humanity. I stay up for seeing extra work from Back to Back.
Written by: Mark Deans, Michael Chan, Bruce Gladwin, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Sonia Teuben
Directed by: Bruce Gladwin
Composition by: Luke Howard Trio – Daniel Farrugia, Luke Howard, Jonathon Zion
Sound Design by: Lachlan Carrick
Lighting Design by: Andrew Livingston, bluebottle
Screen Design by: Rhian Hinkley, lowercase
Costume Design by: Shio Otani
AI Voiceover by: Belinda McClory
Script Consultancy by: Melissa Reeves
Translation by: Jennifer Ma
Produced by: Back To Back Theatre
The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes performs at Battersea Arts Centre till 22 October. Further data and bookings could be discovered right here.