Invisible Empire unpicks and nicks at the raw extremes of human experience, inducing feelings of unease and tension that are uncomfortably familiar.
Set up in 2012 by co-artistic directors Ewan Downie and Anna Porubcansky, Glasgow-based Company of Wolves is made up of a talented group of individuals from many and varied backgrounds. This is their rather unique strength – and they’re not afraid to exploit it. Mixing movement and dance, text and sound with rich, sonorous choral vocals, they fought their way fearlessly through banality and conformity to the agonies and ecstasies at the edge of madness.
Beginning with some powerful group singing, the five performers lost themselves and found each other in this act of communal creativity. Winging across harmonic and discordant notes, the potency of this opening piece lay in its ancient, tribal qualities and hinted at the primeval emotions that would be expressed later.
Using recognisable, commonplace gestures and actions – different ways of sitting slumped on a chair, being tickled or acts of passion – they demonstrated the extent to which our behaviour conforms, and examined points of resistance. The stand-out moments were the displays of pleasure and pain and the explorations of cruelty and love that are lost and found at the edges of human experience.
There is a strong improvisational background among the crew that was very evident in the performance, adding an unpredictable and spontaneous dimension that ratcheted up the tension. Impressive cast and fascinating subject matter, presented in a fresh and unconventional style.