Stefa Govaart

Feral

Feral is a series of four sta­ged lands­ca­pes which assu­me con­tras­tin­gly dif­fe­rent ima­gi­na­ries of body and pla­ce. This work invi­tes the spec­ta­tors to obser­ve the trans­for­ma­ti­ons of each lands­ca­pe over the dura­ti­on of the per­for­man­ce. Feral works towards cor­rup­ted, filthy, exces­si­ve, toxic, mon­s­trous, rui­ned, hor­ri­fic, frac­tu­red, and gla­mo­rous landscapes. It explo­res the noti­on of ​‘char­ge’ as a way to sty­le the body­’s move­ments and pre­sen­ce. Lydia McGlinchey has devel­o­ped tex­ti­le pie­ces used as sce­no­grap­hic objects, paying clo­se atten­ti­on to tex­tu­re, and the pro­duc­ti­on of dif­fe­rent volumes/​perspectives.The sta­ge beco­mes a void, an opu­lent dump­si­te, a syn­the­tic desert, a hori­zon. The per­for­mers beco­me scree­ches, devi­ant figu­res, ina­ni­ma­te, hol­lo­wed out surfaces. Feral employs the the­a­tre’s poten­ti­al to cre­a­te an expe­rien­ce of sus­pen­si­on, rather than instruction.