Research, References, and Sources
Books and Articles
The Dying Swan
A ballet solo that means to embody a wounded swan's final moments, representing a struggle against death and the universal themes of life, mortality, and surrender. The original 1905 choreography by Mikhail Fokine for Anna Pavlova depicts the swan's painful fight before its ultimate, inevitable passing, and the dance's meaning is often interpreted through this lens of fragility and resignation.
Red Rabbit White Rabbit
Written by Nassim Soleimanpour
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White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is a groundbreaking play born from the ingenuity of Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour. At 29, confined by circumstances that kept him within the borders of his homeland, Soleimanpour penned a brilliant original play in English, defying the constraints that held him back.
This compelling narrative, known as one of the most widely toured plays in contemporary theatre history, traverses the globe in the playwright’s stead, granting his words the freedom he was denied.
White Rabbit, Red Rabbit is an audacious theatrical experiment.
Picture this, the light dims as the actor walks onstage to open a sealed envelope containing a mysterious script. The actor reads the play aloud for the very first time to a live audience. Imagine the intensity of an intensely personal story told without a director, absent of any rehearsal and a set.
For the actor, this experience teeters between their worst nightmare and a profoundly liberating adventure.
Manwatching
written by anonymous
Manwatching is a monologue about female heterosexual desire, performed by men – specifically, by a different male comedian, sight unseen, at each performance. In the text, Anonymous reflects uninhibitedly on her sexual adventures, preferences and fantasies, and watching, we’re struck by the novelty of hearing her voice, (almost) unmediated. Add the rich pleasure of watching a male performer negotiate the text moment by moment – even when it starts joking at their expense – and you have an intriguing hour in the theatre, one that reclaims a small patch of male privilege and deviously upends the male gaze.
