Delicate Habitat

Photography & Filming ChakHinLeung
Produced by Rosa Thomas
Performed and devised by Tsoi Huen Wong, Alexandra Tsaiapi, and Niamh O’Loughlin
Mentored by Ewan Downie

Delicate Habitat is a devised physical theatre performance which considers our relationship to the environment.

The feminist principle of the performance is: in a contemporary world where media is so integrated into our lives, we are fed narratives about our bodies that are harmfully objectifying – educating us to see our bodies as something separate from ourselves. The performance explores how this same attitude is applied to our environment, which we also view as separate from ourselves, and looks toward the idea of humans existing as part of a living ecosystem.

This idea of existing as part of a living ecosystem is the crux of the devising process, and is a huge part of my life as a  woman-identifying artist based in the Scottish Highlands. Reconciling my own relationship with my body drives a lot of my work and research in feminist theatre, but this work has opened up so much dialogue for me with other women, trans, non-binary, and disabled people about our identities as bodies. While exploring this relationship in my MRes, I witnessed a phenomenon where performers practising physical theatre outdoors (on the Eden Court lawn in June, surrounded by birdsong and the sound of River Ness) felt more relaxed, grounded, and connected than when we had done the same exercises indoors. I think many of us experience this when we are in green spaces, and this relationship to landscape and nature in the Highlands and rural Scotland comes up again and again.

Preserving green spaces is vital for all of us, but is felt strongly in rural areas where our relationship to the environment is closely tied to our identities, community, and sense of place. This project brings all of these ideas together and is an important opportunity for me on a personal artistic level to develop my understanding with other creatives, and to share this with sympathetic audiences.