Went to Body Electric last night. The venue was Block T, an incredibly difficult to find arts space in Smithfield in Dublin.
The event started with an interactive exhibition of items to do with body, brain and perception. If the instructions had been a bit clearer, this might have worked better. After an intriguing introduction, the audience was invited into a slightly damp-smelling area for the performance. It was a promenade performance. The actors (all men) performed singly and in combinations in different locations in the large space. The audience’s attention was directed to the action by the physical switching on and off of lights.
The theme was the human body, it’s composition, how we use it, how emotions are felt in it, how we abuse it. The script was a mix of lecture, prose and some verse, and the action at times was intensely physical.
Although the audience wasn’t involved in the physical aspects of the performance, we were invited to walk around, witness the performance from different angles and aspects, and to engage in self perception of how emotions are felt physically. Some aspects of the performance were less successful than others, mainly because they seemed contrived and sometimes a little ‘preachy’, but overall, as a Fringe experimental piece, the performance was both enjoyable and informative, and gave one something to think and talk about afterwards.