IDA’S SOLACE

Commissioned by Sadler's Wells

Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadler’s Wells Theatre / 2023

Two women facing each other, holding their faces with both hands, in a dark setting.
Two women in satin dresses, one kneeling with eyes closed and mouth open, the other lying on the floor with arms extended, on a dark stage.
Person with dark curly hair and earrings making a funny face and sticking out tongue, dark background.
Two women in long dresses are dancing with outstretched arms in a dark space, captured with motion blur.
Two women in satin dresses embracing passionately in a dark setting, one woman raising her fist.
Two people lying on the floor in a dark room, one on top of the other, in an intimate pose.
A woman in a silk dress kneels on one knee in a dark studio, with a black background, illuminated by a soft light highlighting her face, hair, and dress.

Ida’s Solace navigates resentment, grief, euphoria and fatigue in relationships between women. Set in an underworld, the performers continuously enact tableaux of violent intimacy and intimate violence, occasionally attempting to reach a state of catharsis. Named after the character Ida in James Baldwin’s Another Country, the piece is an expression of grief for relationships that could not transcend destructive social conditioning.

Ida’s Solace is informed by research into speculative fiction and its ability to comment more precisely on reality, whilst departing from it.

Credits:

Choreographer: Elisabeth Mulenga

Performers: Laurie Ward and Steffi Fashokun

Lighting Design: Amelia Hawkes

Composer: Travis Yu

Styling: Elisabeth Mulenga

Artistic Mentors: Julia Cheng & Tim Casson

Images: Jack Thomson