Global Desires
Digital Hub, Dublin
★★★☆☆
What does desire mean to you? This is the central question of Global Desires, a multimedia piece from Outlandish, an experimental-theatre platform for artists and local communities. Last year a different version of Global Desires explored desire through neuroscience, botany and a classical-theatre text. This production continues that performance research into desire as micro, personal and macro, charting global desires such as world peace and saving the planet, but also looks more closely at art’s role against injustice through the work of the Russian-born poet Polina Cosgrave, one of the performers.
Global Desires is built on the philosophical (and religious) concept of the via negativa, or discovering what something is by establishing what it isn’t. On stage, the nine performers enact this by following their own “desire paths” around the space. You could think of the result as a performance sculpture in which the ever-changing appearance of desire, whether romantic, desperate or anything in between, keeps the bodies moving individually and as a collective.
The performers’ expressions of yearning involve everything from dancing to performing monologues to knocking on wood to watering flowers. The result can be exceptionally compelling but also, at times, feel clunky and confusing. Global Desires is certainly more performance art than conventional theatre, but there are moments when it can come across as a drama-school exercise.
A key intellectual backdrop is Maxim Gorky’s 1904 play Summerfolk, about a group of middle-class Russians who have rented a villa in the countryside as the world changes around them. Gorky’s characters dream of a better life yet are increasingly aware of impending upheaval. In Global Desires, which aims to reflect the perspectives of a group of performers who come from around the world, the notion of desire rubs up against the fear of being forced to live through strife, whether it be war or direct provision.
Murmur: The young audience gasp and laugh, mesmerised by this playful, inventive performance
Content: Hate speech, revenge porn and an exploding dog – A gripping portrayal of the human cost of sanitising social media
Global Desires: Flashes of brilliance, but this performance art leaves a sense of disruption and discomfort
The Jesus Trilogy: Beautifully textured adaptation captures all the sadness and mystery of JM Coetzee’s novels
Having so many people running, shaking, dancing, shouting, slithering, sleeping, undressing, kissing or breathing deeply in front of you tends overwhelm the narrative, however. Are we meant to laugh or cry? It’s hard to tell. Perhaps this is intentional, as much art-based activism sets out to disrupt, but a feeling of uncomfortableness is ever-present.
This boundary-pushing piece has flashes of brilliance, particularly when individual performers are given more space and time, as is especially the case with Cosgrave’s poetry and the monologues of Luca Pierucci. It’s unfortunate, though, that the audience has to work to find them.
Continues, as part of Dublin Theatre Festival, until Sunday, October 13th
