The ballad of Isosceles at Sensored Festival, Contact Theatre, Manchester

Matthews, AE

Abstract

Eleven performances over six hours as part of a large festival.


The Ballad of Isosceles is a one-to-one performance for two people at a time exploring voyeurism, the Lynchian iconography of the chanteuse, and the strange rhythms of vicarious pleasure. It is an origin myth about the birth of envy in a previously innocent world. Isosceles, born out of wedlock from infidelity, tells the story of how she came to be - even as she pins you to your seat as the moth to her flame.
The piece explores innovative dramaturgical strategies by putting Girard's (1996) theory of 'triangulation' into spatial relations - creating an affect of envy through a particular audience set-up. As such, the piece continues my research into immersive performance strategies and the ways in which the one-to-one exchange might reveal larger macro-relations of capital and desire.

Citation

Matthews, A. (2015). The ballad of Isosceles at Sensored Festival, Contact Theatre, Manchester. [Performance]. 25 June 2023. (Unpublished)

• Exhibition Performance Type: Performance
• Start Date: Jun 25, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Mar 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Jun 25, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 9, 2015
• Related Public URLs: http://www.creativetourist.com/articles/theatre/manchester/sensored-festival-at-contact-soundless-dancing-and-dining-in-the-dark/; http://contactmcr.com/whats-on/35694-recon-sensored/
• Additional Information: Funders : Contact Theatre