Jake Mace
Content Warning: Discussion of sexual violence.
As you enter the expansive space of Zo Sala Verde, a former sulphur works turned arts space, the first thing your eye is drawn to is the body of Evie Demetriou, laying in the corner of the stage with Karen O and Willie Nelson’s cover of Under Pressure blasting from her phone. It’s this body that we become acquainted with across the next fifty minutes, as Evie aims to situate the changes, shifts, trauma and expectations placed upon it and her.
She begins by playing with the loose muscle and fat on her body, moulding it into shapes and places before soon rising, microphone in hand, and bounding across the stage with unrelenting energy. This stage becomes her playground over the hour as she elucidates her various places in society – womanhood, motherhood, citizen, carer. It’s in the latter that she finds, all at once, lucidity, confusion, and expectation. With striking finesse and coherent form she asks us to ask the titular question in all of the situations within our lives.
Physicality is interspersed and translated through short speech sections, but also in the sounds Evie makes using the microphone. As it is rolled around and over her body she evokes the sound of the waves which she espouses as having had such an impact on her wellbeing. The body and the mind are drawn together both as one and yet distinctly and ontologically separate through utterance and movement.
Evie is clearly of pedigree as a dance performer, but it is the uniqueness of the form of WHO CARES that is most striking – her body used phenomenally well to express her various places in society. Dramaturgy by Belgian dance dramaturg Guy Cools provides refinement and poise. As we draw towards themes of consent and abuse in sex, Evie cuts through the noise with a stark reliving of how her female body has been taken advantage of, and how the patriarchy impacts perceptions of self-care and how we care for one another in society.
The piece lacks pretence, which is to the show’s credit, although at times some of the themes explored are a little on the nose in expression. Subtlety is avoided, which for an international audience does increase accessibility, though it does feel some times that some of the exploration could have been deployed a little more succinctly – as our performer shouts loudly into the void “who cares?”, we are not given a chance to respond, but such is the form of live performance where the fourth wall remains integral.
A vivacious and rebellious ending hones in on the core themes of WHO CARES – how trust in one another can liberate our bodies. The piece is expressive rather than campaigning. We are asked to situate care in our own lives within the broader patchwork of systems and ethics that define our place in society. For Evie, nothing is left unsaid in this expression, and her holistic approach shines through the stark nature of the themes explored.
Raw, animated and at times effervescent, this is a controlled and undeterred revealing personal piece.
Recommended Drink: Pair this with an Aperol Spritz – eruptive yet refined.
You can catch WHO CARES one final time today Sunday 26th October at ZO Centro Culture Contemporanee – SALA VERDE from 22:00 (50mins). Tickets are available through the Catania OFF Fringe Online Box Office.
Lamesha Ruddock
Phoebe Bakker
