The contemporary performing arts company Sleepwalk Collective made up by Iara Solano and Sammy Metcalfe presents Swimming Pools, their latest creative project. A psychedelic piece about desire and melancholy, and what life looks like under the blinding brightness of the future.
Across a series of imagined pools, arranged like the ascending levels of a retro video game, a sequence of intimate monologues overflow, all balanced on the fine edge which separates disclosure from delirium. The fluid, melancholic nature of these monologue-like epiphanies, combined with the company's signature visual and textual poetry and hypnotic sound and lighting design, offer a complex counterpoint to the macho, triumphant values of mainstream video games.
“As the protagonists whisper and render their confessions through the voices and bodies of the four women on stage, the swimming pool itself is reconceived as a kind of artificial utopia, a miniature paradise, a place full of ecstatic wonder and factory-made beauty”, the company describes. A fearless struggle with the particular demons of the early 21st century: rampant capitalism, toxic masculinity, internet boredom and emotional fatigue.
The project is part of a new phase in the company's work, distancing itself from the lo-fi and diy, strategies of small-scale creation which have defined the first decade of its collaborative work, and moving towards larger, more far reaching and ambitious practices and structures.
Description:
Cast: Camilla Vecco Haddad, Iara Solano Arana, Nhung Dang and Rebeca Matellán Texts: Sammy Metcalfe and the performers Original music: Sammy Metcalfe Choreography: Alice Tatge and the performers Lighting: Alex Fernandes Wardrobe: Jorge Dutor Production in Spain: Iara Solano Arana
Swimming Pools is a Teatro de La Abadía, Madrid and Teatro Calderón, Valladolid co-production and is supported by the Basque Government, Battersea Arts Centre (London), Graner Creation Centre for Dance and Live Art (Barcelona), Arts Council England, and Shift Key-Europa Creativa.
