Verissimilitude  is an ensemble piece about the territory of subjectivity and perception, a study of the extremes of human instinct. A somatic response to Michel Foucault’s text The Four Similitudes, Verissimilitude deciphers subconscious symbols and explores the fabric of the human condition. A world held in tension by laws and restrained compulsion. Jealousy and blind emulation; affinity and mechanisms of isolation. A witness trying to halt the machine of fate. A modern-day cannibal surrenders to his final victim in pursuit of self-annihilation. The hunter and the hunted are one.

The design is dominated by a giant propeller, acting as a metronome to the rhythm of the piece, while a square of turf scents the theatre with a pungent freshness as feral as the often-violent choreography. Guilherme Bonfanti’s rich, atmospheric lighting design concentrates more on the shadows, creating an almost film noir piece for the stage. The dancers set about their task with astounding aggression, either in constant repetition of movement and form or in attack mode, throwing themselves naked around the space with mesmerizing ferocity…an accomplished piece”

Verissimilitude was devised in a building site that was inundated by seasonal storms. Scooping out buckets of water before rehearsals became a daily, silent ritual. The tropical heat and humidity, the musky smells and ever-present sounds of crickets seemed to bestow the walls with an encroaching grip, eliciting a somatic response to danger. It was the territory of instinct. The urgency was palpable – it was a pressure cooker of the here and now.