By Michael Smith and Ashleigh Musk

Fertile Ground looks to interrogate the multiplicities of ‘paradise’, through the research and deconstruction of architecture, literature, religion and philosophy. Through looking at current environmental and humanitarian crises, Fertile Ground seeks to create space to face the reality we currently inhabit, and to reimagine potential futures we could occupy.

Flipping Dante’s Divine Comedy on it’s head and transporting the audience to a place of shifting landscapes, we arrive in a moment of limbo where audience and performers navigate their way through a micro cityscape of cement bricks, reimagining and re-crafting their reality in a call for collective action. This limbo, this state of purgatory, is a series of images, scenes and tasks that unpack themes of human impact, our compulsive need to leave a footprint on nature and our persistence to conquer, outlive and survive in the face of crisis.

Creative Team

Choreography and Performance: Michael Smith and Ashleigh Musk

Durational Performers: Michael Smith, Ashleigh Musk, Jesper Harrison and Sage Price

Sound Design: Anna Whitaker

Dramaturgy: Liesel Zink

Access and Inclusion Consultant: Daniele Constance

Costume Design: Jessica Palfrey

Lighting Design: Chloe Ogilvie

Videography: Gabriel Comerford