Shhh! is a dance theatre work made in 2024

Here pictured performed at the Ruthin International Arts Festival and at the Pen Theatre

Photos by Ashley Calvert, video by Jake Pitcher

set, performer, costume, sound design - Stella Pearce

live vocals - Kirsty Ferguson-Lewis

sound operator- Jessamyn McArdle

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Shhh! contends with the legacy of shame, silence and secrecy through the portal of three costume characters.

 

"In the space created by the lack of overt plotline and the simple stage setup, the audience focus is drawn to the torrid centre of the character’s feeling. Characters who, steeped so heavily in their persona, are almost
puppet-ish. Set against a glimmering pink curtain, for three acts we watch Pearce’s face,
shoulders and hands as they tremble. Sometimes quivering with self-satisfaction and
hedonistic pleasure. Sometimes twitching with deep seeded disgust, dread, anger and
confusion. Sometimes teetering toward cruelty, or fluttering into sadness, and sometimes
getting caught in the spaces in between....executed with skill and beauty, the clean tones aid this playful and tender study of the feelings of shame, guilt, disdain, and disgust, as told by theatric marionettes, in
carnivalic slow motion." - Ava Cowperthwaite, 2024