(& other opportunities for non linear success)
Mary Pearson is wrestling with FAILURE. One Night ONLY-!
Left standing at the disco… Caught naked on the red carpet… Gathering dust after the big sale… Expired. Bagged. Tagged. And recalled. FASHION VICTIM, ASPIRING POP DIVA and CHRONIC UNDERACHIEVER is consumed by delusional fantasies of commercial success.
My debut solo was a step in a process of liberation -- not about failing on stage. I wanted to break apart my limited perceptions of achievement. To challenge my inherited ideals, and standards of beauty and femininity absorbed from ballet and the culture industry. To critique self and body as marketable products. To reclaim myself as a dancer, without losing my sense of humour.
A re-branding moment that subverts self-as-brand.
FAILURE creates waves of audience amusement, outrage, empathy, embarrassment, frustration, relief, hope and wonder.
Ingredients: 14 kg dried kidney beans, pink pedestal, 3 control undergarments, tropical bikini, high heels, sequin dress, pink wig, diamante eye patch, tiara, dressing screen, garbage can, microphone, loop pedal, pitch pipe, duck caller, 12 pink feather fans, spray bottles, and cowboy hats, 1 cigarette.
Photo: Mark Loudon Image: Mary Pearson
at Tempting Failure festival: I'm sitting on a pink plinth wearing silver sequin dress with leg slit, clutching microphone and singing with sunglasses
at Tempting Failure festival: I'm standing in a circle or dried white beans, wearing pink high heels, a long hot pink wig, black eyepatch, beige control undergarments; pink bows are tied around my knees and shoulders
Close up of upper body in a silver sequin dress: dried white beans pour like rain on my face and chest
at Tempting Failure festival: I'm sitting on a pink plinth wearing silver sequin dress with leg slit, clutching microphone and singing with sunglasses
Photos by Mark Loudon and Roser Diaz
Tour dates 2013-2014
March 2nd, 2013 Camden People's Theatre: SPRINT Festival, London
May 22nd, 23rd & 24th, 2013 The Nightingale Theatre: Brighton Fringe, Brighton
May 26th & 27th, 2013 The Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter
May 31st, 2013 Physical Fest 2013 at the The Unity Theatre, Liverpool
July 13, 2013 Ponderosa Tanzland Festival, Stolzenhagen, Germany
October 3rd, 2013 The Rose Theatre at Edge Hill University, Ormskirk
October 30th, 2013 The Unity Theatre, Liverpool
December 7th, 2013 Summerhall, Edinburgh
April 1st & 3rd 2014 The Bike Shed Theatre, Exeter
12th June 2014 Performing Arts Studio Scotland, PASS Theatre, Edinburgh
November 8th, 11pm Tempting Failure festival at The Island, Bristol
works in progress
February 2012 Earthdance, Plainfield, Massachusettts, USA
May 2012 ‘Fest Live’ at Physical Fest, Unity Theatre, Liverpool
June 2012 ‘If Only…! Festival at the Bluecoat, Liverpool
July 2012 Ponderosa Tanzland Festival, Stolzenhagen, Germany
"Pearson is a veritable multimedia show in herself"
"Outstanding in her range and concentration"
- Total Theatre
“By turns dazzling, vulnerable, hilarious and tender”
“strikingly eloquent physicality and irrepressible charm”
“She commands your total attention, and rewards it wholeheartedly. I can’t wait to see what she does next.”
- Exeunt Magazine
"She has a warmth and an unguarded quality that is instantly appealing"
- Fringe Review
"If you can imagine a live, feminist version of a Tarantino movie - simultaneously grotesque, exciting and uncomfortable"
- Broadway Baby
Created and performed by: Mary Pearson
Made in collaboration with: Hannah Silva, Jules Beckman, Mamoru Iriguchi, and Jamie Wood
Developed in residency at Earthdance (USA) and The Bluecoat (Liverpool) with public funding from Arts Council England