Review: DEMOLITION by Polytoxic
Running for the first week of the Brisbane Festival
Making its world premiere at Brisbane Festival, Polytoxic's Demolition is an explosive construction-site cabaret written by women, performed by women about what it is to be a woman and more specifically, a woman of colour in the twenty-first century.
Demolition's shut up and listen attitude regarding rape, sexual violence and racial profiling We enter the powerhouse stage to a set with industrial scaffolding, filled with eight construction workers moving around cones and literally building parts of the set before our very eyes. With Hot Rod FM playing in the background, the performers use megaphones to yell orders at each other and the audience; a feature that's also prominent in the rest of the performance. Once the performance unfolds, we learn that the construction site needs urgent repair and reconstruction; a metaphor for the patriarchal system that has been plaguing system for many Millenia.
Directed by Lisa Fa'alafi and Leah Shelton, I have never seen circus used in such a symbolic and abstract way to depict the trauma of sexual violence, and of being a woman. From the nail biting rope acrobatics demonstrating the distress felt by women who are the victims of sex crimes to the empowering dance numbers that express the solidarity of gaining back authority, the abundance of amazing moments in Demolition weren't just impressive spectacle, but felt incredibly moving.
Polytoxic's awe inspiring and highly topical Demolition is not only a sensational expression of the power of sisterhood for all the women out there, but acts as a deeply necessary "in your face" reminder for men to have a long, hard think about their actions and who they affect. Let's go tear down the system.
Rating: 5 Stars
]Photographer credit to Jade Ellis
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