No Autonomy Under Anatomy
Devisor, Sound Designer & Performer
TILT 2022, Blue Room Theatre
Is it just our lot, to rot?
What does it mean to have a body that is inherently politicised? How do we care for, and reconcile with that body? No Autonomy Under Anatomy is a post dramatic exploration of the sexualisation, ownership - or lack there of, of bodies with a uterus. A scathing commentary on the patriarchal tendencies of the medical system, spelled out through the creepy, the comedic, and the cabaret.
Stylising the Sound for No Autonomy
Sound design for No Autonomy was essential, turning the passionate, verbatim reflections on 3 artists experience of the horrors of misogyny and transphobia in the intimate space of the doctors office, all expressed in wildly different ways, into a cohesive dramaturgical arc.
As the sound designer, my main priority was to support the stylizing the raw passion evident in the text, to create one coordinated and balanced work, shaping the work into an eerie, gothic cornucopia of agitprop and protest.
The form of the text here was spoken word poetry, which devolved from rhythmic and songlike, to evocative, verbose slam poetry. To support the rhythm of the text and the cabaret style the content was striving for, I designed a cabaret beat for the performers to work with.
This text called for a wet, spacious reverb , which evokes an uncomfortable space disguised as a meditative one, underscored with a soothing chime melody. The two elements are the antithesis of each other, with the clash creating a satisfying uncanny valley feeling to the moment
“There’s plenty of desperation, but nothing measured, about the outrage in No Autonomy Under Anatomy, the agitprop-inspired pièce de résistance that closes the first programme of “TILT”… sometimes chaotic, often uncomfortable, but always passionate and compelling.”
– See Saw Magazine (TILT 2022)
