Aotearoa’s leading subversive and anarchic feminist theatremakers Julia Croft and Nisha Madhan return with a new boundary-pushing collaboration that examines the relationships between our bodies and the world around us. A solo performance from Croft explores sustainability through a scientific lens informed by queer and feminist theory, TERRAPOLIS makes its premiere at Q Theatre’s Loft from 18 – 21 August.
TERRAPOLIS aims to investigate alternative webs of relationships between human bodies and the “natural” through new imagined ecologies and eco-systems. Performatively looking to reimagine our place in the world and our relationships across social spaces, desires, societies, species, and objects, TERRAPOLIS seeks to reimagine threads of relationships that might be moving us closer to a sustainable way of existing with each other.
Irrepressible forces in the live and performance art world both locally and internationally, Croft and Madhan have been longtime collaborators. Together, they create urgent multidisciplinary work that breaks all the rules, such as Medusa and Power Ballad. Their last work Working On My Night Moves played in Auckland, London, and Edinburgh where they won a prestigious TOTAL theatre award (Visual and Physical Theatre) at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, as well as an Auckland Theatre Award for Excellence in Overall Production.
“ Working On My Night Moves is a piece that makes other work on the Fringe look dated. Days after seeing [it] the show is still hovering in the mind.” – Edinburgh Reporter, ★★★★
A continuation of their globe-spanning artistic practice, this new work has been developed with the support of Creative New Zealand, Battersea Arts Centre in London, and The Marlborough in Brighton, UK. Like much of Croft’s work, TERRAPOLIS is inspired by Feminist and Queer theory, reevaluating histories and mythologies to build a world in which new relationships across species, space, and time can be explored. As a performer, Julia Croft has toured extensively throughout Aotearoa, Australia, and the UK, as well as Ireland, Singapore, and Canada. Her previous works include If There’s Not Dancing at the Revolution I’m Not Coming, and Body Double that tackle concepts such as representational politics, violence, and the body.
“A brilliant mash-up of flesh, sonics, and text…Many shows lay claim to gender fluidity, but this is the real deal: othering, teasing, provoking. The tone moves between hysteria and terror, joy and despair.“ – The List, Edinburgh on Power Ballad, ★★★★★
Stepping into the role of director for TERRAPOLIS, Nisha Madhan’s extensive career has seen her work across stage and screen performance, directing, dramaturgy and writing, and she is the current programmer of Auckland’s Basement Theatre. She has also taken part in a three-year arts residency curated by Basement Theatre, Forest Fringe (UK), and West Kowloon Cultural District (HK). Croft and Madhan have teamed with Production Designer Meg Rollandi, Lighting Designer Calvin Hudson, and Producer Alice Kirker to bring this gritty vision of the intersections between humanity and the climate to life.
Note – copy for this article provided by Elephant Publicity.
TERRAPOLIS plays
18 – 21 August, 7PM
Loft, Q Theatre
$25 – $35
*service fees may apply
Click here for bookings
