The Rabble’s YES boldly questions “the truth”

The Rabble’s YES boldly questions “the truth”
Kaylah Joelle Baker

In a time of uncertainty, where a simple “yes” can have catastrophic repercussions, notable feminist theatre makers have come together to dismantle the truth.

Exploring the complexities of power, consent, knowledge and truth in their latest production YES, The Rabble aims to take their audience through a thought-provoking performance where a multitude of questions will be explored using a simple answer of “yes”.

According to The Rabble, “People all over the world are trying to tell the story of the past two years. Between the bushfires, COVID-19, the Black Lives Matter protests, transphobia and never-ending conspiracy theories, the chasm between world views is literally and metaphorically widening.”

It is this disruption and widening of beliefs YES aims to confront as they reflect on the minimal access to reliable information.

Co-directors Emma Valente and Kate Davis often find themselves questioning the lack of simple facts and conflicting ideas and strive to make the importance of the searching process evident in the production.

“We want to disempower the makers of meaning – the leaders of patriarchal structures – that filter and decide how trauma is portrayed. We want to create a more communal process of searching,” they said.

Set on an ever-evolving physical space, the audience will witness unpredictable manufactured weather events, dramatic sounds and lighting changes.

Passages, public debates and personal memoirs will all be included in the performance to encourage moments of joy, contemplation and existential dread.

Leading the audience through moments of contemplation and eventually to the reflection of their individual feelings about the so-called truth.

YES by The Rabble is performing at the Arts House in North Melbourne Town Hall from March 30 to April 10.

For Arts House artistic director Emily Sexton, it has been a long waiting period with many of the previous shows cancelled.

“After a long gestation period, YES will finally have its premiere. This powerful work looks at our relationship to truth in a post-traumatic world,” she said.

“It’s a riveting series of questions that rise, settle, provoke and rise again.” •

Previews: 30 – 31 March 2022
Season: 1 – 10 April 2022
7.30pm Tue – Sat and 5pm Sun
Duration: 90 mins
Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall
521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
$20 general admission + booking fee
$10 BLAKTIX for First Nations + booking fee
artshouse.com.au  or (03) 9322 3720

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March 13th, 2024 - Brendan Rees
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