Woman M (At House with Woman Macbeth) by Temitope Ajose | overview
Phrases by Francesca Matthys.
Temitope Ajose bursts in to The Place’s bar lobby unexpectedly embodying what we now have all come to see. Woman Macbeth, a personality tormented by her personal demise. On this first encounter Ajose breaks all standard expectations of what house and proximity imply to an viewers; drawing the viewers straight into the intimate world of the character/performer.
This world is surreal and although we’re current, she is alone along with her ideas. With the fact of her existence. We’re witness to her anguish and pleasure, anger and uncertainty. Guilt and play.
Because the track ‘Candy Desires’ by Eurythmics blares from the theatre house; Ajose leads us from the bar lobby space into what we quickly uncover as her quarters, romantically curated, dim lights, luscious vegetation, an vintage sofa that one could think about Marie Antoinette to have, a garments rack with an array of clothes and a sound desk with stay musician Adam Liston amongst different issues. Creating the phantasm that Woman M aka Ajose has made herself comfy right here, the seating is all introduced onstage on this house and we’re right here on her phrases.
Ajose doesn’t conceal something on this work, adorning herself with costume, jewelry and even fragrance, asking viewers members to spritz her neck and wrists. Woman M is at dwelling with us and we along with her. As she revels within the reward of time, we really feel protected. As she seductively strikes her hips aspect to aspect I’m wondering about how this a part of the physique represents safety and self-worth; commenting on the wavering state of Woman M as portrayed by Ajose.
We’re aware about her inside wrestle. As Woman M obsesses ‘Out damned spot…’ residue that can’t come out, the stage breathtakingly turns to nighttime and each the viewers and Ajose are caught in dread. Guilt creeps up on us as soon as extra by way of its embodiment of sound. Knocking penetrates by way of the ceiling, virtually. Grief is what blocks the center chakra within the chest as considered by yogic philosophy and Ajose demonstrates this by way of a repetitive ‘Holding collectively’ motion at her coronary heart centre.
Because the stage begins to brighten we’re reminded that lighting is cleverly used to signify Woman M’s inside state. Different methods like viewers interplay by way of communal consuming of wine, sharing of meals and video games are additionally used to additional immerse us within the inside panorama of the character and performer. We’re too requested to reveal our soul and be weak by way of a sequence of intimate questions round safety and sexuality that if answered sure, one ought to step ahead.
By means of this densely but superbly weaved efficiency Ajose morphs between the hyper and huge expressions of gender shifting from a slinky black costume to a shirt, tie and trousers. Maybe sharing with us one other side that Ajose should tirelessly embody. She repeatedly performs a really lyrical piece of choreography, looping her motion and her mind-set. Replaying to know or come to phrases with.
In between Ajose’s persona shifts and transitions there are delicate and clearly crafted moments of pauses virtually as if the penny has dropped for her, moments of realisation for a way time has handed, for the place she is now. This enables us because the viewers to replicate on how far we now have journeyed. For this and plenty of different causes, Ajose provides us not solely a efficiency however a reflective instrument in motion.
I’m fascinated by the rhythm of feelings or states that Ajose explores within the physique, starting with guilt and growing to anguish and exhaustion that permit the exploration of actual life experiences to transcend in the direction of artistry.
The viewers once more is complicit when Woman M decides find out how to hypothetically hurt the sound technician. He has been silently current up till now, shifting the temper and shifting microphones. Because the viewers should determine his destiny I’m wondering what it means at the moment for the viewers to witness a white man’s future lie within the arms of a strong black girl.
The ultimate picture that Ajose leaves us with is blood. That of which she has been operating away from, the fact the stain reworked into risk. Once more she invitations the viewers in and asks for our needs, talking them into existence. It isn’t the primary work that I’ve lately watched that has left the viewers with a ritual. I typically consider the duty for the artist to the viewers and this type of farewell feels actually conscious and hopeful.
Woman M (At House with Woman Macbeth) is a romantic dreamlike mirage of expertise that contrasts with repetitive motion language that’s indicative of the tribulations of life on earth.