THE RABBLE

For several years, acclaimed feminist theatre makers THE RABBLE have been developing an epic, durational performance event inspired and repulsed by James Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’. Rejecting the ‘everyman’, the modernist canon, and the large amount of space Ulysses takes up in it, THE RABBLE have created a series of experiments that investigate the intersections between intellectualism and femininity.

YES (after Ulysses) expands one such experiment to a full-scale performance installation. Drawing from Molly Bloom’s famous monologue within the novel, YES will explore the dynamics of power, consent, knowledge, truth and the complexities of saying yes.

Set within an everchanging and unpredictable physical space, an audience witness the joys and horrors of women saying yes. Part endurance feat, part public debate, part personal memoir, YES will conjure an orgasm, a confession, a proposal, an investigation, a promotion, an abortion, a rape, a pregnancy, a first word, an agreement, a war, a resolution, a question, an illness, a death… Yes YesYes Yes Yes Yes Yes YesYesYes Yes
Yes
Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes YES
Yes Yes
YES.

The July residency for the creative development of YES, initially planned to take place at Waterside, and then rescheduled to Arts House, Melbourne, has been cancelled twice now due to shutdowns required by the impact of COVID-19. The artists continue to develop the work towards a 2021/2022 premiere.

Creative team: Emma Valente, Kate Davis, Dana Miltins and Mary Helen Sassman

Image courtesy of the artists.