Back to Back Theatre

small metal objects

Gary and Steve are the kind of men who normally escape notice; in small metal objects, they play a pivotal role in the lives of two ambitious executives. small metal objects unfolds amid pedestrian traffic against the shifting backdrop of a city. On a raised seating platform, the audience is wired via headphones to an intensely personal drama that unfolds somewhere in the crowd.

Back to Back Theatre comprises an ensemble of six actors considered to have developmental or intellectual disabilities. The company explores how respect is withheld from outsiders—the disabled or unemployed—who society deems “unproductive.” Since 1987, the ensemble, based in the small regional center at Geelong, Australia, has transformed the theater experience by exploring prejudices associated with the notion of “other.” The group’s past performances include Mental (1999); Dog Farm (2000); and Soft (2002). small metal objects received a 2008 Bessie Award after its performance at Under the Radar Festival, and a 2007 Zurich Theatre Festival Appreciation Prize for extraordinary achievement in theater. In 2005, the ensemble received the Sydney Meyer Performing Arts Award for their long-standing contribution to the development of Australian theater.

Initiated through the Victoria Commissions, supported by the Victorian Government, and through the Community Support Fund and Arts Victoria. Supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding advisory body, and through the Australian International Cultural Council, an initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

www.backtobacktheatre.com

small metal objects turns the notion of theatre and the everyday inside out. It is a pure, open-hearted, complex, and breathtaking production and a unique meditation on human worth. Sydney Morning Herald