Showing @ Summerhall, Edinburgh until Sun 24 Aug @ 18:40
Set in the intimate space of Summerhall’s Old Lab, Maria Addolorata demands as much commitment from its viewers as its performers. The close proximity between the two is at first startling – as the dancers fling themselves across the room in an array of simultaneously contorted yet fluid movements there is a real risk of being hit. Yet as the performance unfolds, a sense of deep involvement is cultivated in the audience: it makes you sit further forward in your seat, wanting to be more involved in the action.
It is a production that pushes boundaries at all levels – formally, emotionally and physically. Both dancers push their bodies to their physical limits, and as you hear the hard thud of limb meeting unyielding floor it’s hard to resist the emotional intensity of the performance.
The name, ‘Maria Addolorata’, translates as Our Lady of Sorrows and refers to the Virgin Mary and the Seven Sorrows of her life. In Catholic tradition, Christians will indirectly face these Seven Sorrows in their own life. Extracting and reworking it into an erotic performance of song, dance and crying, Maria Addolorata embodies this powerful suffering and thrusts it in the audience’s face.