Exile: Sanctuary (2013), Directed by Teya Sepinuck

The performance of Sanctuary exists on a spatio-temporal liminal tightrope, dangling precariously somewhere between the past, present and future. The laws, wars, histories and tensions of Somalia, Zimbabwe, Northern Ireland, Britain and Ireland play domineering roles in this performance. The processes, privileges and discriminations of each territory are inscribed on the performers’ embodied territories and the potential for their futures. The performers tell their personal testimonies of past events in stylised and rehearsed sequences communicating directly to the audience. One of the dominant motivations and outcomes for this production, from process to performance, is the potential for affect and transformation on the audience, as well as for affective and transformative experience for the performers while they share their personal histories.