WORLD PREMIERE: FALLING HEADS
A bold new work by Thursday Group
What happens when history is rewritten — and weaponised?
Estranged twins Tomasz and Steph are pulled into opposite sides of a tribal war. One fights for the supremacy of mind over body. The other defends the sensory world — to the death.
Told in modern fable style, Falling Heads is a visceral theatre work about truth, power, memory, and control.
“Mesmerising.”
“Intense.”
“Masters of their craft.”
“To hear the singing in this space: stunning.”
Performance Dates – Melbourne:
October 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16 (matinee on the 16th), 17, 18
Ticket link and venue details coming soon.
About the Work
In development since late 2023, Falling Heads is co-devised by Thursday Group and directed by Mathew Crosby. Drawing inspiration from Akutagawa Ryūnosuke’s 1917 wartime story The Story of a Head That Fell Off, the piece blends a cappella, dance, shadow play and sculptural battlefield reportage to explore contemporary themes such as fake news, authoritarian ideology, and the split between mind and body.
Synopsis
Two tribes, once connected, now divided: the People of the Sunflowers have colonised the lands of the People of the Wild Boars.
Twin siblings Steph and Tomasz stand on opposite sides. Steph, a loyal follower of the Sunflower regime, believes in pure reason and control. Tomasz, a poet and dissident, stands with the Wild Boars in defence of embodied experience and the sensory world.
Through song, image, movement and text, the performance journeys across oracles and conversion therapy, resistance and repression, ancient graves and final reckonings. The twins reunite only in death. In the end, the Reporter asks a haunting question: why shouldn’t history be questioned?
Directed by Mathew Crosby
Devised by the Thursday Group
Collated by Mathew Crosby
Cast:
Tessa-Marie Luminati
Angelique Ye Zhou
Alex Clouston
Damon Branecki
Diego Fajardo
Mathew Crosby
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