Brief Explanation

It takes place in a Butoh-like world. All is dark. In one corner, a little boy, in white, glowers, heaves – you feel his childish frustration building. Nursery sounds begin to distort. Finally he erupts. Into a fist-swinging, limb-flailing, scream-fuelled tantrum. The music grows frantic. He is unstoppable. You would feel for his mother. We flinch. We cower. We begin our retreat. As the camera flies away from the scene, things soon come into perspective. The white against black. Dandruff on a head of hair. “Stress causes dandruff,” explains the titles. CLEAR! – shouts the solution, as the bottle blots out the problem.

The Brief

The Butoh-inspired world is dark – an empty, vast, all-consuming blackness that will swallow you. And one that also serves as the perfect backdrop for the single performer on stage, stark and white against the featureless backdrop. We wanted to create a stage that will allow the performance to conjure imagery, tell the story and bring a situation to light – without actually showing anything. A grotesque, macabre theatre of the mind that builds up a feeling of overwhelming tension, stress and in the end, denouement. It must also be perfectly believable as we transition from performance to messaging – stress to dandruff. To that end, even our props crumble when smashed – objects moulded and crafted using plaster of Paris, or organic matter frozen in dry ice to smash and crumble with some force. Powder and smoke were also lit to further this effect.