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General Content Warnings: Recommended for audiences aged 18+. Content Warnings include: Coarse language, References to Hong Kong Protests, police brutality, violence, bodily injury, Mention of hospitilisation, adult concepts (stripping) and use of Haze
Director’s Note – Joe Paradise Lui
Making this work with Georgi has been a wonderful lesson in creating differently.
Adaptation and manoeuvrability take precedence over timelines
And in a way it has reconnected me with something truthful about making, that seems missing the more “professional” we try to make this practice.
I am always fascinated with art that wrestles with how to keep going.
Georgi’s project reflects her life – an ode to keeping going despite undeniable and frequent reminders of the impermanence of health, painlessness and safety. It reflects the sensation I feel we all share as creative people trying to make a better world in this time of utter divisiveness.
The grief I feel when I think of Hong Kong, and all its myriad promises that are now dimmed almost to darkness, as well as the pride and solidarity I feel for those who still seek to maintain its democracy – is reflected in conversations I have had with Georgi about carrying on.
The show draws together disparate and complicated ideas and performance practices into one journeying body. I am excited about tying together various performance forms into a singular, coherent structure, and I am excited about weaving together the broad experiences of Georgi’s life into a unique, powerful, and poignant performance experience.
Lead Creative’s Note – Georgi Ivers
This show draws upon many parts of my life that, until now, have been incredibly private – and sometimes invisible. It is both scary and exciting to share, but most of all it feels important, urgent and necessary at this collective, social moment.
A key challenge making this work was trying to externalise visceral internal experiences in a way that does them justice, without falling into reductive Inspiration Porn narratives around illness and disability where the hero “overcomes” the “challenge” of their bodies. I am at a point in my life where I can look back and see the cycles through which my body has moved over time, and the evolution of my own self-perception moving in and out of periods of pain/illness. It has been very rewarding using this material to create the shape of the show.
The people I know and love in Hong Kong cannot publicly talk about the topics in this show safely. Joe and I have, with Sze’s help, done our best to avoid speaking on behalf of communities I am adjacent to rather than a part of. I am very grateful to both of them for their time and patience helping this leng lui gweilo try to get it right.
Thank you to my entire team for your input throughout the creative development and production processes, for your time and expertise, and for embracing this story so generously.