Words by Darlin Song
At nine o’clock on the dot, an event staff member was walking around telling us it was five minutes until the door opened, I patiently walked toward the queue of audience at Nexus Arts building on North Terrace.
It felt like one of the longest five minutes ever. Slowly, people started moving forward and so did I. Having had no idea or knowledge about rope bondage, I read the document that was freely available at the counter. It provided some explanation and theories behind rope bondage but I found myself asking ‘surely, this show is about more than just rope tying?’. The next time I looked up as we were walking into the performance theatre, it was blue. It was so blue and then I realised it was so very quiet too. Chitchats from the audience were echoing throughout. I then looked down and there were two props in the shape of bunny tied in colourful rope in front of where I sat. I looked up again – there were two men in the middle of the stage tied in colourful ropes.
Within the first ten minutes, there was only one action: a man was tying another man in thick orange and yellow ropes. By the time he finished tying, the man who was being tied in ropes was spinning in the air. I had even more questions. What is this? What am I here for?What are they trying to show?
After about another ten minutes, the two performers were tying ropes onto different people who were selected from the audience. The ropes were tied using many different techniques. As I was watching them tying the ropes, I thought ‘who would’ve thought rope tying can be so interesting?’.
Inspired by the nickname “Bunny” given to the person being tied in rope bondage, Bunny is a performance for a very patient audience as every movement happened ever so slowly. The audience was part of the performance. Interactions between the performers and the audience without a doubt made Bunny the most interactive performance I have ever seen.
First, the ropes were being tied then they got untied. And just as I thought I knew what was coming next, I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected for the entire length of the show.
If you are looking for a performance that is full of surprises, then Bunny is the one. With very minimal dialogue, everything is up for interpretation. Every action, every movement, and every word.
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