The Laboratory is a new performance exploring science, movement, music and emotion. The show comes to Canberra on the 6th to 8th December. Cicero chats to choreographer and performer (and Canberran) Nerida Matthaei about the upcoming production of The Laboratory...
cicero: I don’t actually know much about the Laboratory, but what exactly is the play about? Is it a continuous story?
Nerida: It’s a dance performance, so it’s a double-bill. The first half of the show is a piece called Therapeutic Geno(s)ide(s) which is a contemporary dance piece mixed with video installations. The music’s been composed by an ex-Canberra musician and it is about cloning. When I was researching cloning I spent some time at JCSMR within their gene-targeting lab. I did some research there to develop the work.
The second half of the piece has got live musicians in it, the Clarity clarinet quartet, and it is to be performed with some improvised movement. We’re not structuring the dance for both works, we’re just going to improvise on the night. And we’re exploring things like charkas and the more spiritual side in the night.
C: Where did you get the idea? How did this come about?
N: Well, I’m originally from Canberra, and I moved away five years ago to study dance in QLD, and spent a little bit of time in Perth as well, and I really wanted to take my work back to Canberra. This year is my honours year, and therapeutic Genocide is the creative product at the end of that honours year. To be honest I can’t remember why I got interested in cloning. The main thing is that I like making works that provoke some sort of comment, that have something behind them that audience members can think and debate about; not just dance that’s pretty. I generally pick subjects that have some kind of social comment to make.
C: So is there a message behind the Laboratory?
N: There is, but it’s suggestive. I think there is a definite positive and a definite negative for cloning, and everybody has their own viewpoint, depending on, say, your religious viewpoint. The piece comments on both sides, and I’m hoping that audience members will be able to take what they want and make up their own minds.
C: So you’re aiming to provoke thought and discussion?
N: Yes.
C: Does the Laboratory have a particular appeal to queers?
N: I don’t actually know. I don’t market a show for one person or another, but I’d think that anyone, no matter their sexual preference, would be interested in this. Just because you’re queer or not shouldn’t affect your interest. But really cloning has been a topical issue for same-sex couples. It’s not something that’s directly spoken about in the piece, but in the research I’ve done indicates there’s some benefits for same-sex couples. But I didn’t really think about any particular group being more interested than another.
C: You mentioned this was your honours project, so really the last question is; what’s next?
N: Well, I’m going on holiday to Europe for a little bit [laughs]. But when I get back, I might be doing a PhD later on. I will be coming back to Canberra later on to do a different work, maybe around August. Next year I’m going to be be creating a new work, one that hopefully will be coming down [to Canberra] and hopefully I’ll will be working around in other places, and working with Clarity on other projects.
C: Thanks for that.
N: No worries.