 We are so excited to announce that both Contra and A Spectacle of Herself have shows coming up this Autumn in the UK and Europe.
CONTRA 9th & 10th October - La Biennale, Toulouse A SPECTACLE OF HERSELF 19th & 20th November - No Limits, Berlin 28th November - Worthing Theatres 4th & 5th December - Les Halles, Brussels 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.' ‘A Spectacle of Herself navigates the personal and political to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen.’ Hope to see you soon in a theatre somewhere. We can't wait to see you!! *All shows are captioned* Photo @HollyRevell
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 In July we ran a Writing From The Body Workshop at the Battersea Arts Centre. It was great to be back at BAC! It’s such a lush and welcoming space to be in. The Writing From The Body Workshops explore the body and its experiences as impetus for writing and devising performance work. This two-day workshop explored strategies for generating and working with text, devising physical material from text, delving into creative and critical conversations and also giving participants an insight into Laura’s work.
These are some of the very nice things people said about the workshop: “A renewed sense- Fuck yes, I wanna do more of this! Feeling refreshed and inspired about making work and being creative.” “Laura is incredible, and works inclusively to ensure everyone’s voice is not only heard but amplified through autobiography. Feeling empowered and creative.” - Thanks to everyone who came along, for making such a generous, fun and supportive space! We are planning to do more workshops, however, do get in touch if you would like to book one or if you want to know more about what we do. You can also see our upcoming workshops below, in Toulouse, France: Université Jean Jaurès 11th-12th October 24 Ésacto'Lido 14th - 15th October 24  We just wanted to let you know what’s been happening and what’s coming up for us.
Upcoming;
Hope to see you soon in a theatre somewhere. Stay warm, enjoy the longer days and fuck the patriarchy. Lor & Nicole  We are so excited to announce that A Spectacle of Herself is going to be presented as part of @batterseaartscentre ‘s Spring program!!!
April 23-27th 2024! ‘A Spectacle of Herself navigates the personal and political to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen.’ Click the link for tickets through @batterseaartscentre’s website. *All shows are captioned* London we can’t wait to see you !! Xx ❤️🔥 xx Photo @ineptgravity  Writing from the Body: Devising Text and Movement. A two-part workshop exploring autobiographical writing and circus choreography with Laura Murphy Dates: Saturday 14th & Sunday 15th October 2023 Times: Saturday - 10am-4pm. Sunday - 10am-2pm Location: Saturday - Arnolfini. Sunday - The Island Training Space Cost: Early Bird £90 or £100 full price for both days. There are two subsidised £50 places available on a first come first served basis for anyone who needs it. Please contact [email protected] Follow this link for tickets: select Saturday 14th October 2023 in Ticket Selection for full weekend tickets. Laura Murphy will offer an insight into the making process underpinning their unique performance practice, which connects and combines autobiographical writing with aerial choreography, lip syncing and movement. Laura is internationally recognised for their innovative approach to circus making, aerial choreography and contemporary performance. Their practice centres the politics of the everyday, the importance of having a voice and telling stories to (un) F**k the system! Starting with the body and autobiographical experience as impetus for writing and devising performance work, this two-part workshop will explore strategies for generating and working with text, devising physical material from text, delving into creative and critical conversations and also giving participants an insight into Laura’s work. Participants will be guided through creative writing exercises and devising skills to generate material, and unlock new directions in their approach to making work. Day 1: Getting to know you, Laura’s work, writing practices, generating material (writing workshop) Day 2: Devising from writing (physical devising workshop) Suitable for professional circus artists and physical practitioners, and advanced students. Prerequisite: aerial artists must be proficient in their discipline and own safety requirements. Content warning: video material shown in the workshop may contain nudity, swearing and references to sexual violence   We’re over the moon that Laura Murphy’s A Spectacle of Herself has been awarded the Lustrum Award for outstanding work in theatre at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.
Awarded by the owner of Summerhall, Robert McDowell, the award is given to the favourite company and show of the Summerhall programme. Join us on tour! A Spectacle of Herself tours around the UK this Autumn to: Derby Festé - Déda 21st September Circus City, Bristol 6th & 7th October Jacksons Lane, London 1st November Cambridge Junction 9th November Lowry, Salford 28th November Laura Murphy, Contra and Carré Magique present the stunning “A Spectacle of Herself” at Summerhall. Directed with assurance by the great Ursula Martinez and performed by savvy Laura Murphy herself this is an audacious sequence of scenes exploring the frontiers of mental health, queerness, rage and the 21st Century space race. All of which off an alternate vision of being a woman in the world and on stage.
Laura Murphy is a genre-defying queer performance maker from Bristol, who makes text-driven and dynamic physical performance about things that she thinks needs to be talked about. Challenging, intimate and spectacular, her work is a cross-disciplinary fusion of theatre, live art, circus, and verbal explosion. Technology is both form and content and Murphy’s video project work throughout the show is both innovative, accessible, and artful. When it starts it does feel like we are in for some critical theory and that the show “may be good for us”. But fear not, autobiography collides with creative practice to create a gym for the mind and a feast for the eyes. The aerial work is stunning and the resonant images and journey from the opening images of a fully clothed body to that of the closing images of the naked body are potent. Lived experience of autism, everyday sexism, violence, and abuse pepper the content. The lone male genius gets a poke. Using direct address, lip synch and karaoke, the work navigates the personal and political, to seek out new worlds and ways to be seen and question the status quo. To be honest, the karaoke scene didn’t work for me – I just didn’t get it but I do love Whitney Houston. The final message is “Fuck the Patriarchy.” This is not the kind of show you take mum and dad to on a Saturday night (maybe you should) but it goes a long way to filling the void between easily digestible mainstream feminist fare and powerful, empowering, and provocative work. It’s the kind of thing that stays with you. Mesmerising! It's a super short premiere season in Edinburgh. I predict you will catch it on the festival circuit around the world. Read the full review Laura Murphy's one-person show is a kaleidoscopic mix of clowning, aerial rope, comedy and self-expression that manages to be direct and abstract all at once.
Laura Murphy's new one-person show, A Spectacle of Herself, is a wildly funny and deeply touching act of self-expression. Aerial rope, video projections, inventive captions, and a hoverboard come together to make a witty commentary that never feels too obvious or heavy-handed. Murphy's connection with the audience is easy and honest; it feels like a safe place to laugh. The piece features all of the things I love the most: gender business, autism, horniness, clowns, and performance art that is brilliant in its stupidity. It's actually very reassuring to find that this extremely niche intersection is not at all a lonely place to be – in fact, horny, gay, trans, performance art clowns have appeared in this very magazine several times this month already. Exploring the mechanics of desire and consumption on her own body, Murphy performs a dazzling series of stunts, skits, tricks, and other unnameable weirdnesses. The piece partially orbits a formative 90s TV advert in which heightened performances of gender provided a peek into euphoria for young Murphy. Murphy's account of first seeing the commercial is so direct, so evocative, that it feels like looking through a tiny porthole into her weird, wonderful brain. We get a glimpse of the euphoria this advert gives her; Murphy makes astounding shapes with her body and the aerial rope, turning gender euphoria into a death-defying stunt. Murphy's script achieves a remarkable balance between direct and abstract, plain and inscrutable. It is a collection of personal stories and moments that express identity without commodifying it – the saliences in the piece aren't necessarily linked to being queer, trans, autistic, etc (for me, they are, of course); they speak to the experience of feeling different, of feeling behind, and of feeling lost at the end of the world. Read the full review In A Spectacle Of Herself Laura Murphy slides the serious and the silly up against each other as she successfully weaves the philosophical, the personal and the political together into the mess they truly are.
Murphy is a charismatic performer drawing from clowning, parody, the world of Drag Kings, alongside aerial work and academic meditations of feminism, queerness, mental health, identity and neurodivergence. Whilst adding a sprinkling of horninesss levels matched by Fleabag, with a righteous celebration of the word cunt, echoing The Vagina Monologues. The sections of aerial work are moments of true transcendence. These are captivating and charming, providing flashes of queer euphoria breaking through the backdrop of panic attacks, overstimulation and righteous rage against the world we live in. Murphy has no time for people perceived as famous smart men, either in history or today featuring her parodies of Einstein and cunting Elon cunting Musk. Musk being particularly wince inducing. Providing an alternative to Musk’s idea of space, a space shaped inescapably by capitalism, masculinity and the patriarchy. Murphy provides a reclaimed erotic love for space, performed with tenderness. The pacing of the piece is sadly a bit sporadic, at points I felt like I was waiting for a song to end rather than still enjoying the joke. To avoid spoilers I shall be vague but there was a point in the piece that rushed us towards a precipice and I was craving the jump and destruction and I felt I didn’t get it. This piece had the longest wait on a joke, for payoff that I have seen in a while and it was fantastic. The performance has been carefully crafted, and the work to provide AV and captioning for almost all of Murphy’s speech should be commended. It is a serious leap for general accessibility. Despite the academic trappings the piece's real clarion call is for us to get out of our anxious, rage-filled, heads for a bit and just be a body, to rave - despite the world around us. Read the full review ★★★★ ‘a powerful and empowering piece of work’ The Scotsman
Comprising a series of unconventional and interconnected fragments, A Spectacle of Herself is at once daring, dynamic, and disruptive. Characterised by an innovative approach to, and engagement with, technology - particularly video projection - Laura Murphy uses both the solar system and systems of power as lenses through which to celebrate queerness and to consider new ways of being a woman in the world and on stage. Using elements of autobiography, Murphy draws from the day-to-day dangers she faces as a consequence of her sex and sexuality (physical violence, verbal abuse, repression), in addition to her lived experience of autism. Pushing against - and sometimes parodying - 'pioneering male thinkers’ past and present, Murphy combines critical theory and creative practice to create a kind of cerebral circus. Blending physical theatre, clowning, and stunning displays of aerial rope, each vignette verges on wildness, and yet - under Ursula Martinez’s careful direction - the action is deftly controlled. There are exceptions throughout (notably, a moment of weird karaoke), outliers that, while charming, remain strange, even estranged from the rest of the performance as it accrues and takes shape. Short silences between scenes - not unlike ‘rests’ in a piece of sheet music - are also odd at first, risking room for disengagement, but cumulatively these spaces gather gravity and meaning. Its political savvy, seen together with themes of physical and emotional nakedness, makes A Spectacle of Herself incredibly sexy. As Murphy invites her audience to queer the status quo, unlearn Patriarchy, and destigmatise the female form, she does so with great sway and sophistication, resulting in a powerful and empowering piece of work. Josephine Balfour-Oatts Read the full review |
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Contra is a trading name of Contra Productions Ltd.
Company number 14719432
Company number 14719432
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