Contra Tickets
Drawing from circus, stand-up and live art, Contra is a solo cabaret of contradictions.
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One night only for this brilliantly knowing piece of full-frontal circus created by Laura Murphy and Ursula Martinez - which was briefly seen in Edinburgh this summer. Laura’s solo show begins with a re-telling of the Adam and Eve story with a rope standing in for the serpent. It skewers patriarchy and the male gaze with a distinctive show that suggests that Eve had very good reasons for taking a bite out of the apple – and we Eves still do, when we are so often the punchline of male jokes. Murphy climbs above it all in an aerial rope act that effortlessly dishes the dirt on women’s complicated relationship with their own bodies and the structures that keep men dominant.
About Contra
Fierce, witty and uncompromising, this highly physical show interrogates personal, social and historical occupations of the female body and explores – literally – where such bodies are positioned and how we are meant to look at them. This highly physical, darkly funny and thought-provoking work of contemporary performance uses lip sync, spoken text, dance and aerial rope choreography to juxtapose autobiographical accounts with the voices of comedians, preachers, pop vocalists and strangers on public transport. Delivered with humour, honesty and poignancy, Laura Murphy shares stories of bodily functions, heartbreak and family discussions of lesbian sex. Beautifully surreal and comically astute, Contra unpicks the absurdity and contradictions of female identity in the present day. Expect scenes of nudity, aerial acrobatics, and explicit references to mythical reptiles and female sexuality. Age Recommendation: 16+