U>N>I>T>E>D - Perth Festival
- 12 hours ago
- 2 min read
Reviewed by Kate O'Sullivan
As part of Perth Festival, U>N>I>T>E>D by Chunky Move feels confident and visually striking, with a clear sense of the world it wants to build.
The first thing you notice is the machinery. Each dancer is strapped into heavy, industrial mechanical limbs that are bulky and imposing. Yet the performers inside remain recognisably human. There is something grasshopper-like in the way they brace and spring, negotiating weight and balance with impressive control. That tension between body and apparatus drives the work.
The choreography leans on repetition. Phrases return, rhythms loop, gestures build and layer. At times it feels deliberately machine-like, then the group swells and separates in ways that feel organic, like a system shifting and reforming. Unity here is not comforting. It feels hard won and sometimes uneasy. The six performers sustain a relentless physical demand, hooking and unhooking themselves from swinging mechanical frames with focus and stamina.
It was mentioned in the post-show Q&A that the work was originally staged in traverse, with audience members able to be closer to the action. That intimacy feels like it is wanted for this show, as in the vastness of the Heath Ledger Theatre, while the scale is impressive, it does create a sense of distance from something that feels like it should be experienced up close.
Sound by Gabber Modus Operandi is relentless; pulsing, droning, sometimes confrontational rather than guiding. The lighting design by Benjamin Cisterne and Nicholas Moloney makes full use of the theatre’s height, carving the space into moments that suggest conflict, cleansing and eventual reconciliation. It is worth noting that this is a highly sensory show, which could make it inaccessible for some audiences.
Created under the direction of Antony Hamilton, U>N>I>T>E>D builds a dystopian world that doesn’t feel entirely fictional. It’s loud, demanding and occasionally overwhelming — but it’s also a clear-eyed reflection on the systems we’re already part of, and the ways we try to move together within them.
Reviewer Note: Tickets for this review were provided by Perth Festival.
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