Laughing Holes and Slaptalk: Ten things to see at this year's Sick! Festival

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Combining art, science and theatre, Sick! Festival starts in Manchester and Brighton this month. Here are ten performances to look out for

Under the Covers, Contact Studio, Manchester, March 4-7

Inspired by the sex-attitudes-through-the-ages feel of the Wellcome Collection’s Institute of Sexology, the protégés of the Contact theatre company take a look at taboos and contemporary thinking on sex. Artist and performer Stacy Makishi directs, having developed the piece through artist-led workshops.

Prurience, Secret location, Manchester, March 4 / Fabrica, Brighton, March 6

“Pornography ain’t what it used to be”, observes Christopher Green. The chisel-cheeked creator and embodiment of Tina C and Ida Barr has created a fictional self-help group in the age of ubiquitous filth, piped through confessional voices in another look at our moral preponderances.



Nirbhaya, Dome Corn Exchange, Brighton, March 10-11

Confronting the horrific gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi in 2012, Yael Farber’s Nirbhaya premiered in Edinburgh the following autumn, bringing to light the experiences of women forced to keep their ordeals a secret. A post-show discussion follows the first performance.

Rudiculusmus, The Lowry, Salford, March 11-12

Non-comedic double-act bills rarely visit Hitler and Finnish folk, let alone a struggle against schizophrenia. The audience plays its part on this mother-son partnership’s road to recovery: viewers are asked to switch seats halfway through, allowing the action to be replayed and made sense of.

Laughing Hole, The Whitworth, Manchester, March 12

Madrid-born performer, choreographer and artist La Ribot is said to have made her most political work with this cacophony of chortlers, sprawled across floors, holding placards while laughing. The noise intensifies as each participant becomes more fatigued: staying the whole six hours surely risks slipping into delirium.


Tell me Love is Real, The Old Market, Brighton, March 16

Canadian Zachary Oberzan shares an unwelcome experience with Whitney Houston: sitting in anonymous hotel rooms in the winter of 2012, both performers overdosed on Xanax. Oberzan, though, survived and began an experimental path to recovery in a psychiatric ward, finding comfort in the ghosts of Bruce Lee, Buddy Holly, Serge Gainsbourg and other redemptive spirits.

Action Hero – Slaptalk, The Whitworth, Manchester, March 19

In what sounds likely to be the most confrontational spectacle since the Whitworth’s reopening, the gallery will host a six-hour passive-aggressive discourse based partly on the self-aggrandising nonsense spouted by boxers pumping themselves up prior to bouts. Part-shopping channel, part-preacher, this autocued drop-in is the latest escapade from maverick pair Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse.

Falling in Love with Frida, The Basement, Brighton, March 20

Mexican painter Frida Kahlo changed her birth date to the time of her country’s revolution, became an active communist and feminist and suffered two accidents which left her with disabilities, to mention a few notables from a life best symbolised by her surreal paintings and idol status among many. Australian-born performer and choreographer Caroline Bowditch “reclaims” Kahlo and explores her world. Visit the Falling in Love with Frida blog.



Victor, The Old Market, Brighton, March 24

Playwright and actor Peter Seynaeve and Jan Martens, a choreographer and dancer, are joining forces for the first time for this performance, a dance duet between two males at pre-pubescent and fully realised stages of manhood. This is the only scheduled appearance of the work in the UK this year.

Lippy, The Old Market, Brighton, March 20-21; The Lowry, Salford, March 24-25

In a play with a storyline as murky as the dark lines and hooded shadows filling its stage, Irish company Dead Centre focus on four women who formed a pact to die, spending the weeks beforehand destroying every trace of their existence. Highly praised by critics, its performance will be followed by a discussion of suicide and its representation in the media.

• Sick! Festival runs from March 2-25 2015. Visit sickfestival.com for the full programme. Follow the festival on Twitter @sickfestival and on Facebook.

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Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk//art/art519722-laughing-holes-and-slaptalk-ten-things-to-see-at-this-year-sick-festival