Blushing | Zen Zen Zo
Zen Zen Zo are a long established company with a penchant for emotive works of physical theatre and their close of season 24 performance Blushing was a commendable contribution to the archive. Directed by Indiah Morris and exploring themes of intimacy and touch in a post-covid anti-touch world, it explored the limitations of our attitudes towards affection and sexuality.
The full cast were flawless in their cacophony. The Zen Zen Zo performance toolkit draws from physical theatre disciplines including butoh, kabuki, and Suzuki method among many others. The combination of disciplines makes for powerful pieces of physical theatre that are eminently watchable. The end of year performances combine the skills of performers at different stages of their careers from emerging through to professional career artists, however this distinction was not easily seen as each of the chorus, ensemble and leads performed with great dedication to craft and commitment to scene.
In great contrast to the homogenisation of lead actors in most mainstage performances, the range of bodies and their distinct individuality made a powerful impact. Against reason, the white face and body paint that adorned each performer served to exaggerate individual noses, lips, shoulders and hips.
The program tells us that Blushing explores the intimacy of touch, which experienced a societal prohibition in the time of covid. The fallout from this continues to flow into society. According to a thousand pop culture articles, young people in western countries are increasingly puritan, less likely to drink or make out or do any number of things that the previous generations seemed to do in abundance. Blushing asks us when did sexuality become taboo? I’m asking myself, is it just a phase we are going through or a gradual decline across societies, fuelled by religious fundamentalism and a planet-wide hypochondria?
The performance followed the relationship between two flame-haired performers played by Gina Tay Limpus and Masie Crosdale. Sometimes it felt like the two acted as friends, or sometimes lovers, in other scenes I felt as if they were reflections of self and shadow self., hidden desires pushing up through layers of societal expectations, repressions and social niceties. The chorus swung in and out and around the two as they journeyed through different trials of purity and expression, emancipation and repression. The ensemble represented in turn the braying masses, the prudish crowd, the aunties egging on, wanton wingmen, jealous watchers, and extensions of self, larger than life.
I was a little lost on the narrative arc, if there was a singular one, but enjoyed watching the myriad beautiful shapes and entwined bodies, each teasing out intimacy across a spectrum of garish and crude, wnaton and giddy, timid and gauche.
I am not a huge fan of promenade style works but am not averse to them, used with impact and intent. In this case I failed to see the significance of making the audience rise and move several times. Aside from presenting different viewpoints in the charming church hall, there didn’t seem to be rhyme or reason for the frequent movements. I failed to see the link between the venue and the performance, the performers did not interact with it specifically, and it seemed a lost opportunity to not speak to the walls and old energies of this religious space which definitely lends itself to Opinions About Intimacy. I mention this because the program tells me that this work was created as part of the In The Raw series, in which the company makes work in non-traditional spaces. I didn’t observe or respond particularly to any specific acknowledgement or interaction with the unique energies of the space. As I entered the ground pre-show I was struck by the church’s ability to make strangely ambient spaces with nothing more than bricks and paths and gently maintained shrubbery – it imbued a poignant feeling even before entering the space and I was unsure how that translated to the piece.
Nonetheless, it was one of the more watchable pieces I’ve seen this year, marrying that energy for the stage with strong committed performances from all the cast, from each step onto the stage and every supporting scene, bodies piled upon each other or stretched in long chains of human connection. Performed in the giddy humidity of an early tropical summer afternoon, the fleshy aspect of sweat and heat added to the intimacy and impact of the piece, making for a true representation of the meaty reality of intimacy.