Back to Back Theatre | Multiple Bad Things

Date

10.4 (Sat) 17:00

10.5 (Sun) 15:30 ★◆♡

★ Post-show talk

◆ Festival Share Cafe

♡ Childcare (Reservation required)

Venue: ROHM Theatre Kyoto
South Hall

Duration: 60 min

Tickets: Adult: ¥4,000
Youth*, Students: ¥3,000
High School Students & Younger: ¥1,000
Pair: ¥7,500

*25 and under

Language: English with Japanese and English surtitles

Notes: Recommended for ages 15 and above.

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Is it a nightmare, a prophecy, or a piece of comedic horror?
Welcome to the workplace at the end of the world

Back to Back Theatre have been producing works for over 30 years as a theater company that centers performers who identify as neurodivergent* or having intellectual disabilities. The group has been challenging societal assumptions through their shrewd criticality and provocative performances, and was awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre at the 2024 Venice Biennale. With this excitement still running high, they return to Kyoto Experiment for the first time in two years to present a new work.

A warehouse at “the end of the world”: as dark clouds loom overhead and dissonant sounds echo throughout the space, three workers assemble a strangely twisted structure. One man monitors their performance. At first glance, it appears to be a “workplace that values diversity and equality.” However, the situation takes a drastic turn as soon as the characters approach the limit of their exhaustion and capacity to care. The sense of respect towards others’ genders and personhood fades away, gradually exposing the mutual prejudices, discriminatory views, and greed for power. As today’s world continues its distortion with escalating bad behaviors and self-righteous bellows, who will be the next scapegoat? While the work unveils an unexpected ending, its opening statement—“Multiple Bad Things is theatre. It is not real”—remains utterly opaque. Has this already happened in real life? Or is it presenting a prophetic apocalypse of our near future?

*Neurodiversity is a framework that regards differences in brain and neurological functions, and individual characteristics resulting from such differences, as diversities that should be mutually respected. It was initially developed by self-advocacy groups for autism, a type of development disability.

Back to Back Theatre Multiple Bad Things (trailer)

Artist Profile

Back to Back Theatre

Geelong, Australia

Based on Wadawurrung Country in the Victorian regional centre of Geelong, Back to Back Theatre is widely recognised as an Australian theatre company of national and international significance. The company is driven by an ensemble of actors who identify as having an intellectual disability or as neurodivergent. The company considered one of Australia’s most important cultural exporters.
In addition to its professional practice Back to Back collaborates intensively with communities around the world, with a focus on artistic excellence and elevated social inclusion for people with disabilities.

Credits
Devisors/Co-Authors: Bron Batten, Breanna Deleo, Natasha Jynel, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Ben Oakes, Scott Price, Tamara Searle, Ingrid Voorendt
Directors: Tamara Searle, Ingrid Voorendt
Performers: Bron Batten, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price
Set & Costume Design: Anna Cordingley
Composer & Sound Design: Zoë Barry
AV Design: Rhian Hinkley
Lighting Design: Richard Vabre
Helpline Voiceover: Rachel Griffiths
Script Consultant: Melissa Reeves
Creative Development: Michael Chan, Mark Deans, Alana Hoggart, Francesca Neri, Tamika Simpson
Stage Manager: Alana Hoggart
Sound Engineer: Peter Monks
Company Manager: Erin Watson
Production Manager: Bao Ngouansavanh
Production Associate: Jordi Edwards
Producers: David Miller
Executive Producer: Tanya Bennett
Artistic Director: Bruce Gladwin

Multiple Bad Things has been co-commissioned by Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), The Keir Foundation, The Anthony Costa Foundation, Geelong Arts Centre and Back to Back Theatre’s New Work Donor Circle, with development support from Festival d’Automne (Paris), Malthouse Theatre, Une Parkinson Foundation, Sidney Myer Fund and Give Where You Live.

Back to Back Theatre is supported by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body, the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria, and the City of Greater Geelong.

Japanese Surtitles: Takuya Ito

Supported by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan| Japan Arts Council
Presented by Kyoto Experiment