In this latest Reckless Sleepers project, choreographer Leen Dewilde and composer/SCO cellist Su-a Lee have devised a literal account of those words that cunningly swithers (wordlessly) between farcical brinkmanship and a process of unrelenting destruction. By the end, it's hard to avoid unnerving thoughts of our actions, our choices, actually leaving us without a leg (or a planet) to sit on.
Five women, including Su-a Lee, take saws to the chairs beneath them. The rasping notes of metal teeth on wood create a rhythmic soundscore that Lee subsequently counterpoints with looping textures on her cello, her bowing a visual echo of the sawing arms. Chairs tip and lurch, the women perch and re-balance, but saw on. Even when only sawdust remains as witness to their time, they start again on the other side of a dividing scrim, as if no lessons have been learned – unless Lee's eerily lovely playing of her saw is a hopeful reminder of how the arts, and creativity, can sometimes transcend scenes of devastation.
This intriguing production was the first offering in Tramway's Rip It Up season, which continues until March, and on this evidence it will be well worth checking out.