APRIL 28 - JUNE 3
SEASON EXTENDED

MALTHOUSE THEATRE AND KAGE PHYSICAL THEATRE PRESENT


DIRECTION KATE DENBOROUGH

With Luke Hockley, Byron Perry, Gerard Van Dyck
Text David Denborough
Set and Lighting Design Ben Cobham
Composer Byron Scullin

A man in the grip of life.

Melbourne’s Kage Physical Theatre creates genre-busting performances which pummel the senses. Their new work, Headlock, directed by Kate Denborough (Nowhere Man), is no exception. Staged in a wrestling ring, this zoom-lens vision of masculinity shoves audiences hard against the ropes in an extended round of black and blue emotions.

Expect bouts of pure adrenaline as Byron Perry (Love Me), Gerard Van Dyck (The Collapsible Man) and Luke Hockley (Bal Moderne) slam home the image of an incarcerated man on the edge of everything and up for anything. Exploring the relationship between three brothers, Dean, Mark and Shane Jackson, over the first twenty-four hours of Shane’s prison sentence, Headlock traverses the complex terrain of brute physicality and intense sensitivity of young masculinity. One witnesses glimpses of memory, bravado, sorrow, humour, remorse and fear. Through the electrifying physicality of these three performers, an even more dangerous vulnerability is revealed and a fascinating marriage of different physical mediums - wrestling and dance - evolve into an explosive and emotional cocktail.

Kage’s work is characterised by stunning visual images combined with stand-out performances and a dark sense of humour. Director Kate Denborough and performer Gerard Van Dyck’s visionary partnership made it’s performance debut in 1997, propelling dance-theatre into fresh territory, claiming international awards, recognition and new audiences along the way. Inspired and informed equally by contemporary culture and vintage performance styles, Kage combines drama and theatrical illusion with dance to elicit an emotionally charged and kinectic response in it’s audiences.

For Headlock, Kage teams up with writer David Denborough, who has worked with young men in prison as well as in areas of disadvantage to create a dynamic physical story told through movement and the sheer athletiscism of wrestling. Headlock aims to be a bold and imaginative examination of young men and their frustration in trying to keep up with society’s changing expectations.

"For originality, theatricality and sheer entertainment,
Kage is outstanding."
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD

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