the double room
the double room is a full length performance about the discourse surrounding HIV; it addresses the anthropological otherness we impute on the diseased, and the possibilities of contamination. Can, perhaps, love and generosity be infectious?
multimedia performance about the discourses surrounding HIV
the double room is a full length performance piece about the discourse surrounding HIV; it addresses the anthropological otherness we impute on the diseased, and the possibilities in contamination - the different ways we can infect one another.
"'Please stop this violent passage of time' pleads a line of poetry that finally emerges from a series of projected footprints imprinted with fragmented words.
"Impending death (in this case due to HIV / Aids) and the pressure to find personal closure inform this exceptional dance theatre work…. The symbiotic relationship between all the dancer-choreographers, Nathaniel Stern’s animation, interactive video and performed slam poetry, Lisa Younger's design and Declan Randal’s light is utterly remarkable.
"the double room provides simultaneous exposure of two worlds - the conscious and the subconscious. The real and the surreal share the same time frame and thought line. Visual and aural poetry unfurl in truly elastic emotion as limbs and bodies and images disappear and reappear...."
-Adrienne Sichel, The Star
the double room, choreographed by PJ Sabbagha and funded by the European Union CWCI Flagship Project, is a full length performance piece about the discourse surrounding HIV - the anthropological otherness we impute on the diseased, and the possible good in contamination. Its varied media include physical theatre, dance, acting, computer animation, interactive software, written and performed (slam) poetry, and extremely inventive lighting and set design. It has been called "a new way of looking at dance in South Africa" (Adrienne Sichel, The Star, South Africa) and dubbed "narratography" - a co-invented, plotless yet emotional and political dance / physical theatre narrative - by Fred Hagemann, a Senior Professor of Dance at the School of Arts, Witswatersrand University, Johannesburg, South Africa.