When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the griefs that are in me and what do I know of yours? Franz Kafka

Can we ever really know another person fully? Can we ever really know ourselves? These questions were the starting point for an interstate collaboration between twelve Rawcus performers and twelve Restless performers. The work plays with strangeness and familiarity, looking and being looked at, hiding and revealing, mysteries, secrets and questions. Sometimes the more you know about a person the more you realise you don’t know. As Paul, one of the Rawcus performers, said in response to hearing the Kafka quote above, “Everyone’s life is a secret…”

The two companies began the collaborative process by sending each other questions (How long does it take you to go to sleep at night? What part of your body do you like best?) and responding anonymously to them (It takes me ages because of Rusty the dog barking; the freckle on my right foot). People found out specific and often intimate details about each other without having met. The companies then spent a creative development week together in late April and completed the process in September. The Heart of Another is a Dark Forest was performed at Dancehouse in Melbourne, 24th to 27th September 2008.

This co-production with Melbourne based Rawcus Theatre was voted BEST PERFORMANCE of the Melbourne Fringe 2008!

It was also shortlisted for an Outstanding Achievement in Youth Community Dance at the Australian Dance Awards 2009.

‘…this work is an important reminder of the right of the performer—disabled or otherwise—to be something more than an exhibit for our curiosity.’

John Bailey
RealTime, Oct/Nov 08

Directors:
Ingrid Voorendt
Kate Sulan

Designer:
Emily Barrie

Costumes:
Esther Hayes

Lighting Designer:
Richard Vabre

Music Composer
Zoë Barry

Performers:
Zoë Barry
Jethro Woodward