Getting Physical with a Forklift

A forklift might not be particularly remarkable, but pull one into a hallucinatory dreamscape, drape three supple and skilled performers around its sturdy prongs and you have one captivating, courageous production. Premiering last month at the Sydney Festival, director and Kage co-founder Kate Denborough promises Forklift will be “even more wild” in Melbourne as we’re hosting this marvellous mixture of metal and muscle outdoors.

“Fingers crossed the weather will be kind to us,” says Kate, knowing her hometown’s unpredictable conditions. Set in a factory, an exhausted woman on the graveyard shift drives a forklift into her subconscious, joined by two others in a dazzling display of aerial acrobatics and contortion.

“There’s something quite beautiful about machinery,” says Kate, who jumped at the challenge of choreographing around a 2.5 tonne moving mass of metal. “Contrasting something so heavy and dangerous with delicate human flesh is fascinating.” Deceptively delicate – dancers Henna Kaikula, Amy Macpherson and Nicci Wilks are incredibly strong – the all female cast turning a stereotypically male work environment on its head.

“We’ve been careful, and worked a lot more slowly than we normally do,” Kate says of the show’s rigorous, bruise-riddled rehearsal process.  “It’s been so fun – it’s so different to what any of us are used to doing.” Any plans to dance with other machinery down the track? “The performers are joking about that. The sequel might be the bulldozer!”

Forklift runs until Feb 16 at the Forecourt, Arts Centre Melbourne
For more info visit artscentremelbourne.com.au.