Masculinity Explored with Humour by Shaun Parker & Co
5 Shows Only | Feb 20 – 24
Shaun Parker & Company will present the world premiere of their latest work KING, an international music-dance collaboration between award-winning Australian director/choreographer Shaun Parker and renowned Bulgarian singer-songwriter/performance artist Ivo Dimchev.
KING is presented as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival 2019.
This latest work from one of Australia’s most highly acclaimed contemporary dance companies builds on Shaun Parker & Company’s reputation for combining hard-hitting cutting-edge choreography with theatrical invention and striking soundscapes.
Set in a fantastical realm – part cocktail-bar, part jungle, the piece is played out to a seductive original score, created and performed live on stage by Dimchev, making his Australian debut in the role of soulful cabaret crooner.
KING begins with a gathering of young men, a show of skill, a competition. The group impress each other with feats of prowess until one among them is singled out as leader.
From this playful introduction, Parker employs his trademark highly physical choreography in an articulate interrogation of male power, control and group dynamic, expertly exposing the brutality of macho ritual and the human toll of toxic masculinity.
KING offers the audience a fresh take on historic notions of masculinity and socio-sexual-political structures, in the form of a biting, yet humorous theatrical nod to a society in revolt against an exhausted patriarchy.
After this premiere, the show will then tour internationally to a variety of prestigious venues and festivals, including Posthof Dance Days in Linz, Austria in April 2019.
The KING project will also deliver a unique skills development opportunity for 10 LGBTQI actors, dancers, cabaret artists and writers, to work intensively with Shaun Parker in his Sydney studio for two-weeks, on self-devised theatre-making as part of Queer Bites.
Choreographed and Directed by Shaun Parker, dancers are Toby Derrick, Samuel Beazley, Joel Fenton, Imanuel Dado, Harrison Hall, Libby Montilla, Josh Mu, Robert Tinning and Alex Warren.
KING is supported by Seymour Centre, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, Australia Council for the Arts and Create NSW.
