Collaborative Project

Our starting point was a political cartoon of a migrant worker being exploited during Qatar FIFA World Cup, hanging dead on the event's trophy… we believed the grotesque juxtaposition of celebration (symbolised by the trophy) and suffering depicted in the starting point was appropriate.

Our initial idea was to incorporate multilingual dialogue, with each member speaking their native language… However, when we attempted this within performance, a member had noted that the incorporation of several languages still fell short… Ultimately, we decided to incorporate the use of gibberish language paired with minimal dialogue as we were inspired by Gecko's The Wedding.

One of our members had done previous research on the use of Bogart's viewpoints where they explained how they learned about tempo and spatial relationship and were intrigued on how they can be used to heighten dramatic tension and emphasize power dynamics… Particularly intrigued by its use in Woyzeck, we realized that if we utilised the right rhythms and physical motifs, we could intensify the aforementioned contrast between celebration and suffering.

Our intention as an ensemble evolved and solidified: to encourage the audience to reflect on the emotional, physical and dehumanising effects of social inequality on migrant workers globally while exposing the audience to their own complacency and casual cruelty. We wanted them to ask two main questions: could they do more? And if so, why aren't they?

When asked what they thought the circus symbolised, one audience member responded that it felt like "a setting of exploitation, where the audience gains enjoyment and amusement from someone else's suffering." …one audience member sharing how it made them feel "guilty and responsible for the cruelty," as if "we were exploiting them right now, which, in real life, we actually are."

The migrant crawling through the construction structure at the beginning and then crawling back in at the end" served to convey "how they are born into this exploitation" how there is "no escape but death", emulating a "relentless cycle of poverty and exploitation."

Yet, the utilisation of tempo reduced the overall efficacy of these moments… when we asked the audience about the impact of our use of tempo, they commented how it was "not clearly defined" where sometimes the "worker seemed to be moving at the same pace as some of the other characters."

Yet, one audience member noted the set piece to just be 'decorative', indicating a lack of interaction with the set piece, which diminished its ability to convey the fragility and instability of the migrant workers' lived realities.

At 1:57, when performing the 'carrying a heavy bag' gesture, I mimicked pulling a bag up into my back, initially elevating my upper body, before slumping my posture through rounded shoulders with my torso leaning downwards… Each step was heavy, initiated by an upward push from my legs, followed by an exaggerated downwards motion. As my foot landed, I chose to present a visible resistance in my ankles and knees in lieu of a light placement.

Lastly, I also deliberately chose to not use voice throughout the moment as it is a metaphor for my character's own voicelessness in society, conveying meaning as it further emphasizing their marginalized and disempowered position.

I furrowed my brows, tightened my jaw and extended my facial features… The fact that I am directly looking and locking eyes with the audience at this moment, transforms these emotions into a desperate plea for recognition, forcing the audience to confront my character's suffering firsthand.

At 2:41, as I mimicked the final attempt to lift the heavy bag onto my back, the gesture that has symbolised the relentless burden of my character's existence, I fully collapsed my body, letting it hang limply… makes the audience avidly aware that the only way these workers can escape their life of hardship and grief (as represented by the gestures) is death.

I initially wanted to make this a two person scene, with one actor representing the worker, and the other representing the family member. However, through my creative exploration during group rehearsals, I found that having two actors created a sense of mutual presence and interaction which was ineffective in presenting and actually contradicted the message I wanted to communicate. The grief and emotional turmoil in this situation stems from absence and longing, not the presence and interaction… So I made the directorial decision to replace the second actor with a coat stand holding a coat.

I had the coat stand begin at the very top of the scaffolding to symbolise the emotional and physical distance that exists between the worker and their family. This elevation visually establishes the family member as distant and unreachable, mirroring the reality of the worker's separation due to exploitation.

I directed this moment and utilised the coat in this manner as I wanted to layer it with dramatic irony. While the audience witnessed what appears to be a comforting embrace, they were simultaneously aware that this closeness is an illusion, that they are hugging a coat, not a person.

My intention as sound designer was to amplify the impact of what the migrant worker has left behind. Over the top of this scene, I layered recorded messages from multiple loved ones in Hindi and multiple other languages… my choice of using multilingual language in the soundscape underscored the global scale of this exploitation, evoking a sense of universal human connection and loss within exploitation while helping to achieve our intention in a universal manner.