HUNTER

Name: HUNTER — Courtney May Robertson
Start: 2024-02-17T20:30:00+01:00
Location: Frascati

Courtney May Robertson

Fri 16 Feb ’24 - Wed 11 Sep ’24

horror as a form of unearthing.

Fri 16 Feb ’24

Wed 11 Sep ’24

Tue 10 Sep ’24

20:30

NEDERLANDS THEATER FESTIVAL

Frascati

Frascati 1

laatste kaarten

Wed 11 Sep ’24

20:30

NEDERLANDS THEATER FESTIVAL

Frascati

Frascati 1

laatste kaarten

Fri 16 Feb ’24

20:30

Incl. afterparty with Acidic Male (DJ-set)

Frascati

Frascati 1

Past event
Sat 17 Feb ’24

20:30

Frascati

Frascati 1

Past event

In the depths of a private locked room, HUNTER toys with the redemptive process of a classical tragedy, whereby a character is made to gain insight through suffering. Though in this tragedy, performer and choreographer Courtney May Robertson enacts so-called life-affirming monstrosities upon herself, her life-sized doppelgänger in doll form.

The duo - one of flesh and blood, the other crafted from foam and silicone - map out the internal torments and ecstasies of an individual in conflict with a society that upholds purity as a moral standard.

Inspired by Horror, BDSM and Melodrama, a tapestry of images are woven in which the grotesque, sexual perversion and excessiveness become triumphant symbols for bodily autonomy and empowerment.

Spectators are invited to enter a space where the rigid dichotomy between repulsion and attraction dissolves. Courtney is convinced that when shame is suspended the visceral emotion of disgust, generally associated with aversion, has the capacity to transform into paradoxical intrigue. Propelled by an industrial soundscape composed by ‘Acidic Male’, in HUNTER self-destruction is embraced as an act of self-preservation.

Age recommendation: 16 +
Duration: 75 min
This performance contains stroboscopic effects and self-harming acts a which could have a disturbing effect on viewers.

Credits

concept, choreography, video design & performance Courtney May Robertson sound design Puck Schot (Acidic Male) puppet design Ronald Schinkelshoek, Zoe Morgan light + stage design Manuel Boutreur costume design Matija Franjes discomfort devices BNDSN dramaturgy Lara van Lookeren movement assistant Olympia Kotopolous creative producer Lena Meijer PR & communication Jannes Heidinga co-producers Dansateliers, Dans Brabant, ICK Artist Space & Grand Theater Groningen financially supported by Stimuleringsfonds Design Grant, Fonds 21, AFK & Gemeente Rotterdam with thanks to Yoko Haveman

Nominations

Nomination for the VSCD Mime/Performance Prize 2024

From the jury report:

"Courtney May Robertson previously proved herself as a gifted performer and now, in 'HUNTER', she also shows herself as a highly expressive and provocative creator. She virtuously draws from various idioms such as mime, krumping, dance, and puppetry. This exploration of beauty in the perverse is an impressive achievement."

Press

"Hunter very controlledly makes tangible what someone who seeks pain dreams of and where they actually go." Theaterkrant, Critic's Choice

About the maker

Courtney May Robertson (Scotland, 1992) is a performer and maker based in Rotterdam. After graduating in 2013, she joined Club Guy & Roni's Poetic Disasters Club. Since then she has performed extensively throughout Europe in works by Jan Martens, Connor Schumacher and Florentina Holzinger, among others. In 2015 Courtney started creating her own small scale / DIY produced performances. As a trained dancer, Courtney's work starts with the body but spans several disciplines including video, generative art, writing and visual art. Recurring subject matter in her work revolves around a widespread phenomenon she has defined as 'the relentless desire to dominate’.

She was awarded De Troffel 2020 for the concept of THE WOMAN DESTROYED; Festival Cement's incentive prize for young makers. She was also nominated for the Belgian equivalent, the Roel Verniers Prize of Het Theater Festival Belgium. In 2021 she received the Young Artsupport Amsterdam (YAA) prize. Her short solo the pleasure of stepping off a horse when it's moving at full speed (2020), was selected for Aerowaves Twenty22. Currently Dansateliers, ICK Amsterdam and Dans Brabant are co-producers of her work. Courtney’s performances have been presented in the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Denmark, Belgium, France, Italy and Sweden.