Superman - 30.09.2003

John Hansard Gallery, Southampton

 

SUPERMEN is a silent piece for 24 men in dark suits, black ties, starched white shirts, watches, and Walkmen inspired by September 11.

Throughout the 24-minute performance they patrol the stage, quietly brooding, checking their equipment and maintaining a vigilant eye on their surroundings.

Although each man lives in his own world, he does not really see anything. However, this description only tells us what’s on the surface.

Inside the performer’s heads there is a precise dialogue that maintains the pace and continuity of the work.

Although it is hidden from the audience, the dialogue is every bit as passionate as Bach, and as mechanistic as a computer program.

Isolated by their individual sense of mission, the Supermen are unified by an attention to status and a perpetual state of alert.

From the audience’s viewpoint they create an atmosphere that subtly shifts through fear, anger, bitterness, sexual desire, resentment, and spiritual release.

This is a play about explosive material. It is about the human brain, a soft organ that lives alone inside a hard bony shell.