Is gender becoming fluid? Or is it a sign that we are approaching equality? The changeability of gender now sits at the forefront of attraction, we don’t pine for ‘traditional’ men and women anymore. Give me someone with a secret or an imperfection and watch both eyebrows rise and cheeks flush. Men who rock eyeliner and ponytails have people swooning in the street, women who dominate, dictate and bring home the bacon make people weak at the knees. These are the days when one of the world’s leading female fashion models, is actually a man. We may not have straight lines and columns when it comes to gender roles, but we do have human connection, relationships and life, which is what KAGE explores in their latest work, Flesh and Bone.
Gerard Van Dyck and Kate Denborough of KAGE, boast an uncanny shared resemblance, both sport blonde crops, are similar in build and matching in strength. Aside from biological wiring and some female delicacy that Denborough can’t escape, they are almost identical. And when performing, their ‘play’, transition and interchange is fluid and flawless.
The performance begins with the stripping away of twin flesh outfits, as Van Dyck and Denbourough mirror one another in an eerily resonant act of gender play. This is the first instance where gender and what is typical of the sexes is questioned. Lisa Gorman’s costume design, allowed for androgynous interludes where the audience could focus on the connection between the two bodies on stage, rather than giving it a male or female objective.
Flesh and Bone is littered with textured metaphors that ring familiar for anyone whose ever had a relationship. The mirrored stage allows the audience to watch themselves watch the performance. This clever use of stage offers a personal reflection between scenes, where one is forced to see themselves as inadvertent actors.
Flesh and Bone is not gender specific; it does not represent the ‘traditional heterosexual love story’ but rather, represents every kind of human connection and love. The attraction, the biology, the affair, the tangle and the mess, the heartache, the intimacy, the struggle, the strength and the humour.
KAGE presents Flesh and Bone as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival at Forty-Five Downstairs. It is a must see for anyone with a heart, flesh and bones.
Forty-Five Downstairs
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 3000
March 7th-24th
Tickets from $20
For more information call: 0396 629 966 or visit www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
Leave a Reply