Here's a Photo from the show by Oliver Manzi:
It's about fucking time someone was bold enough to tackle this 21st Century Taboo.
To borrow some text from the review on the Morley Observer Website:
A COURAGEOUS exploration of liberalism, multiculturalism and censorship, DV8 Physical Theatre’s straight-talking new show Can We Talk About This? receives its UK premiere at the West Yorkshire Playhouse this week.
From the 1989 book burnings of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, to the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh and the controversy of the ‘Muhammad cartoons’ in 2005, the dance-documentary examines how events have reflected and influenced multicultural policies, press freedom and freedom of speech.
Directed and devised by DV8’s director Lloyd Newson, Can We Talk About This? is the renowned company’s first new production since 2008’s To Be Straight With You and it goes on an international tour following its UK premiere at the Playhouse.
This show is dealing with an issue that has been on my mind for a while now. The erosion of Freedom of expression, and the legislation that appears to be increasingly encroaching on my freedom to air controversial views. As a practitioner of free thought I like to continuously flirt with ideas and opinions that some would regard as highly controversial. I like to hold them up, turn them over in my head, put them down again. Deconstruct, reconstruct, change, evolve, crash and burn then rebuild from the ground up. This is just part of being human right?Using a fusion of dance, text and archive footage, the production is based on real voices and interviews with leading figures from across the religious, political, cultural and social spectrum, including MPs, high profile authors and journalists.
I recently spent some time soaking up Nietzsche, and in the process I burnt my past, came down from the mountain myself and killed God. Yes, I destroyed God, and in the process declared myself the Superman. I spat at the state and regarded the boundary, the edge, the precipice at the end of the State the beginning of me as a free thinking individual, capable of creating a God concept of my own based on my own image. Why? Because I was flirting intellectually, artistically, creatively with the ideas and emotional responses that the writing inspired in my mind. I wanted to talk about this feeling, express it, share it (never preach it), and test it out. Turn it over. Deconstruct it, change it, evolve it, destroy it and then rebuild my thinking from the ground up.
However, when I shared my reasoning, and it's polemic stance in relations to the ideas of the christian god concept, the notion of the christ, of the prophet mohammed. the stillness of the buddha or the all seeing eyes of the krishna; I was met with hushed voices in public spaces. Glances over the shoulder, around the pub - are we in ear shot of anybody who might take offence! "Offence to what!", I cry - offence to playful intellectual ramblings?
How have we let our free state be reduced to a collection of individuals afraid to express ideas which conflict with other ideas for fear of being labeled racist, or bigoted? For me the enquiring mind of the free man, the free woman must be allowed to express these enquires openly, and be unbound in that expression; be controversial in that expression, and not be attacked by twisted interpretations of that expression.
If you're offended by that, then I say fuck off, and at the same time extend you my friendship. We live in interesting times. If you get the chance, see the show, and let it provoke your own thinking on the matter. Selah.
