Dancing on a Knife’s Edge: Performing Violent Co-Dependency in Bryony Lavery and Frantic Assembly’s Stockholm

Morash, Karen E (2024) Dancing on a Knife’s Edge: Performing Violent Co-Dependency in Bryony Lavery and Frantic Assembly’s Stockholm. In: Dramaturgy of Sex on Stage in Contemporary Theatre. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 45-50.

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Abstract

Stockholm (2007) is the result of a collaboration between playwright Bryony Lavery and theatre company Frantic Assembly, acclaimed for their usage of expressive movement to develop narrative and character. Using devising methodologies, Artistic Directors Scott Graham and Stephen Hoggett wanted to explore a romantic relationship where both members love each other, but are caught in a cycle of insecurity, manipulation and abuse. Tod and Kali embody the ‘couple goals’ that many young, modern Westerners aspire to, but underneath the sophistication of their home, cookery and travel plans lurk destructive tendencies. Whilst they dance their way through the preparation of Tod’s birthday dinner, there is an undercurrent of violence, both within their movement and the ‘dangerous’ environment in which they operate. At the centre of the relationship is an intense physical attraction to each other which is initially depicted on stage as an ‘accomplished and elegant sex act’ (according to Lavery’s stage directions) which then evolves through the course of the play into something more dark and violent, explored in large part through interpretive physical movement. This chapter explores the process of developing the play, which included two actors, two dancers (who did not appear in the staged version), Lavery, Graham and Hoggett, alongside a critical evaluation of how these processes manifested on the page and stage. Drawing on research undertaken for my PhD, but with a particular and new focus on scenes which depict or suggest sexual acts, I argue that the intention of the collaborators was to create a performance which made the audience feel they were complicit within the action, through competing senses of attraction and horror. Close examination of both process and product reveals the collaborators’ dual goals of portraying the complexity of passionate, but abusive romantic relationships whilst enabling the audience to question how they might respond to a similar situation.

Item Type:	Book Section
Depositing User:	Dr Karen Morash
Date Deposited:	26 Mar 2024 11:59
Last Modified:	26 Mar 2024 11:59
URI:	https://bruford.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/56

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