Be transported to an 'in-between' space in a cavernous and desolate warehouse for DISTURBO, a physical theatre piece exploring intimacy, alienation and connection.
Jay is exactly one half of Bare Legs Circus, along with their partner Felix. The duo creates circus and physical theatre work that originates from a queer, surrealist perspective, and they love playing with their ideas in a darkly humorous way. Jay dishes about their upcoming Anywhere Festival show, DISTURBO.
Tell us about the show in 100 words or less.
DISTURBO takes place in a transitory space, somewhere ‘in-between’. Two characters inhabit the space, moving and merging, resisting and yielding. Their roles are blurred and the dynamics constantly shifting. Lights buzz, voices emerge: the space is taken up with more than just these two... It is full of potential. Pulsing between intimacy and alienation, what will they risk for connection? We use our relationship to our inner world and the space we are in to explore matters of connection and isolation through circus, dance, and lip-sync.
Image: Fiarrah Harraif
Anywhere Festival takes place anywhere but a theatre. Tell us about your venue. What is it about your space that adds to your audience experience?
We are in a huge old warehouse that is used as a carpark during the day, and is empty at night. The space is cavernous and desolate, yet retains the remnants of it’s greasy and rusted industrial past. The space allows us to play with proxemics, both between us as performers and with the audience. It’s as far from the ideal of a theatre you could imagine; tiny sounds echo and are amplified by the space, lights disappear into the darkness. It all feels slightly surreal, slightly forbidding, and it fits DISTURBO perfectly.
What is your creative process like?
Felix and I are both very visual creators, and we love to find ways to bring the images and ideas we have into the physical. I’m an insomniac, so most nights I lay awake in a half-dream state with visions of movement and sound swirling around. I usually download to Felix in the morning before he is fully awake, and he will often come back with a continuation of that idea or another one a few days later. We then begin the process of exploring these ideas through dance, partner acrobatics and aerials. I’m a trained sound designer and audio engineer, so I spend a lot of time creating soundscapes and music to complement our ideas.
Tell us your origin story. How did your collaboration start?
Felix and I starting exploring performance together 3 years ago, after playing in a friend’s costume box. After that day, ideas and images started to take up a lot of space in our minds and our conversations. We decided we had to find a way to bring these images to life. We first performed together at Doomsday Disko (MOI Productions), and then went on to develop work for Dwell (Collectivist) and Vulcana Circus.
Image: Jesal Jeena
Who is your perfect audience member? Who is going to LOVE this event?
You will love DISTURBO if you have a slightly dark sense of humour, and are into performance that is equal parts thought-provoking, silly, provocative, and beautiful.
Is there anything else we simply MUST know about the show?
This is our first full-length show, and we are working with the amazing circus and performance Director Alex Mizzen (Invisible Things and Company 2). Also, we accidentally programmed ourselves outside of the actual festival dates, so we are the perfect way to end your Anywhere Festival experience.
DISTURBO played the 2021 Anywhere Festival from 27-29 May at 24 Austin Street, Newstead. Read our review of Disturbo here.
Cover image: Matt Black & Jay Radford.
