BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

SAMARA HERSCH (NETHERLANDS / AUSTRALIA)

SICK! FESTIVAL COMMISSION
UK PREMIERE
PRESENTED WITH CONTACT

FRI 4TH OCT & 5TH OCT
STUN, Z-ARTS, 335 STRETFORD ROAD, HULME, MANCHESTER, M15 5ZA

This intimate new work—performed by teenagers who call into the theatre on mobile phones—delivered a powerful meditation on age and change: changes to bodies, changes in attitude and changes to life. Questions of boundaries, sexuality, pleasure, shame, pain, consent, ageing, grief and death were all on the table as teens from across Manchester and the globe chat with the audience in real-time from their homes. Body of Knowledge provided a surprising, challenging and tender experience, exploring how we pay attention (or not) to our own and others’ bodies co-existing in time and space.

Lead Artist:   Samara Hersch

Dramaturg:   Maria Rößler

Artistic Advisor:   Mette Ingvartsen

Artistic Advisor:    Edit Kaldor

Set Designer:   Belle Santos

Lighting Designer:   Jenny Hector

Creative Technologist:   Fred Rodrigues

Stage Manager (Europe)   Isobel Dryburgh

Stage Manager (Australia) Cassandra Fumi

Co-produced by SICK! Festival in Manchester and Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art in Sydney.

Realized in the framework of Be SpectACTive! – CapoTrave/Kilowatt (IT), Artemrede (PT), Bakelit Multi Art Center (HU), Brut (AT), BUDA Kortrijk (BE), Cafè de las Artes Teatro (ES), Domino (HR), Divadelná Nitra(SK), Dublin theatre festival (IE), Göteborgs stadss kulturförvaltning/ Stora teatern (SE), Institution Student Cultural Centre (RS),  Occitanie en scène languedoc-roussillon (FR), Plesni teater (SI), Tanec praha (CZ), Teatrul national Radu Stanca (RO).

An early version of this work was developed at DAS Theatre in Amsterdam.

Special thanks: Eva Alonso, Malu Peeters, Emma Rekkers, Tony Markus Sacharias, Richard Gregory, Kate Daley, Renny O’Shea and my colleagues and staff from the DAS Graduate School.