Devised by Gareth Boylan, Kerri Glasscock and Michael Pigott and performed by Glasscock, Pigott and Giles Gartrell-Mills, Knots is a tangle through time and space, lacing together history, the present and the future.
From anthropology to cosmology, Knots’ narrative threads science through the needle of emotion and ethics, stitching stories of individuals into the tapestry of a bigger picture. However, there’s a hitch in the stitch, as in all human stories, and it’s the knots that make for conflict, both comedic and dramatic.
The strands of these stories develop into a double bind of conflicting messages and responses concerning a string of topics that range from gender equality to economic and ecological dichotomy and a number of other knotty problems, big and small, in between. This dilemma in communication or miscommunication and balancing the conundrum of big brain intellect and big heart feeling permeates the piece.
Glasscock’s core character is in training for some super-secret spy stuff - apparently astronaut training- and seems willing to trade her terrestrial present for an astronomical future. To succeed she must prove herself physically and mentally the equal of any male. Emotion and even ethics are eschewed for a ferocious focus and discipline to her work, romance sacrificed at the altar of reason.
Pigott and Gartrell-Mills manoeuvre their way through masculine tropes from testosterone “nuts in a knot” aggression through condescending sexism and comfortable domesticity.
While Knots is heavily text based , and the writing is good, the piece contains intense, imaginative and illustrative physical theatre, simple yet crafted choreography that ranges from shrugs and hugs to pushes and shoves, wrestling, running and rough and tumbling.
Impressive, intense, provocative, Knots is a demanding yarn braided by focused and intelligent performances that sustain near on ninety minutes of twist right up to its enigmatic ending. In keeping with its title, Knots is not wrapped up in a neat bow.
Old 505 Theatre Co presents
Knots
Created by Gareth Boylan, Kerri Glasscock and Michael Pigott
Venue: Old 505 Theatre | 5 Eliza Street, Newtown NSW
Dates: 5 – 17 December 2017
Tickets: $45 – $30
Bookings: old505theatre.com
