Touch(ed) a sound theatre performance by Physical Plastic

International sound-theatre duo Physical Plastic presents their provocative show Touch(ed)—a solo performance using autobiographical events to confront gender bias and cultural ideals around intimacy—in life and in art-making itself. Touch(ed) satirizes “slut-shaming” and the perceived vulgarity of the single woman versus the ideal of the nuclear family, and asks how performance can be a vehicle for transgressive ideals which prove difficult to uphold in real life. Arriving at the artist’s own trajectory as a married woman and mother, the work proposes that the popular cultural mythology of monogamy and motherhood is an elusive ideal for the de-sexualized mother-artist, who finds herself struggling to thrive amidst her physical metamorphosis and the demands of care-taking.

Conceived by performer/director Kestrel Leah, the work collages movement and original libretto with personal anecdotes and social media posts, while drawing from iconic female performances and leveraging specific dance forms in an exploration of sacred vs. profane…