A Wire Apart @ Manipulate Festival

Following stand out performances at Manipulate Festival over the past years, Paper Doll Militia have returned with a visually stunning new piece, A Wire Apart. Through a classic love-story narrative, this physical performance explores the detrimental impact of internet technology upon human relationships. The piece pivots around an incredibly resonant paradox; the couple’s obsession with digital connectivity leads to the unravelling of ‘real life’ intimacies.

Two individuals (Sarah Bebe Holmes and Bado Reti) stand in isolation atop podiums of wire. Before the action even begins, the carefully constructed set and original music set the tone for what’s to come. The couple become immersed in their surroundings, transporting us to a world where there is no longer a choice to use technology, it’s inescapable.

Beginning with an almost magnetic force the characters are drawn towards each other, pulling them to step out and cross the tightrope between them. Yet, as soon as they meet the ‘ping’ of a notification grabs their attention and they are absorbed into the online world. As the play continues the characters are overwhelmed by wires and become physically attached to them, like veins across their bodies. Holmes mirrors a wind-up doll powered by likes and instant gratification, while Reti is consumed by online gaming.

The piece was visually stunning, both actors showed immense skill in various acrobatics creating bold imagery throughout. Despite this, the different segments created a fragmented feeling to the overall structure, and the lack of tension left a one dimensional story. While there were opportunities to delve further into how we consume technology these are not taken, and the narrative becomes unsurprising and unfortunately stereotyped.

Overall the performance enabled us to engage with this all too familiar topic in a new way through mesmerising acrobatics. However, the somewhat one dimensional storytelling meant the performance was short of what could have been an opportunity to deliver a more holistic, complex and refreshing analysis of the digital age.