Choreographer, Director and Performer: Jenni Large
Composer and Performer: Anna Whitaker
Lighting Design: Rachel Lee
Costume Design: Jarred Dewey
PIECES Curator: Lucy Guerin
Commissioned Artists: Jenni Large, Jo Lloyd, Siobhan McKenna
Production Manager: Nate Evers
Lighting Operator: Max Woods
Audio Operator: Gabriel Bethune
Producer: Estelle Conley
Executive Producer: Ally Harvey
Producer, UMAC: Rosie Fisher
Creative development of LIP was supported by Lucy Guerin Inc’s Pieces, Dancenorth Australia’s A.R.T. Residency Program and Australian Dance Theatre’s ADT:RAW Program.
Composer and Performer: Anna Whitaker
Lighting Design: Rachel Lee
Costume Design: Jarred Dewey
PIECES Curator: Lucy Guerin
Commissioned Artists: Jenni Large, Jo Lloyd, Siobhan McKenna
Production Manager: Nate Evers
Lighting Operator: Max Woods
Audio Operator: Gabriel Bethune
Producer: Estelle Conley
Executive Producer: Ally Harvey
Producer, UMAC: Rosie Fisher
Creative development of LIP was supported by Lucy Guerin Inc’s Pieces, Dancenorth Australia’s A.R.T. Residency Program and Australian Dance Theatre’s ADT:RAW Program.
PREMIERE SEASON at The Union Theatre Melbourne/Naarm Nov 2025
Driven by the lure of vengeance, two performers whip, clack and screech in a tangle of sound, body and costume.
Open wide, slip the leash, strip down.
The body is a weapon, and revenge is a complicated game.
~
Artistic Statement:
LIP is inspired by depictions of female revenge in cinema, from the 1987 blockbuster Fatal Attraction to the 2015 franchise Mad Max: Fury Road. I have also drawn influence from iconic femme fatale characterisations, such as Catwoman and Poison Ivy, whose physiological transformations into hybrid and hyper-sexualised beings are driven by vengeful incentive. The tired tale that female sexuality and the female body are dangerous proves female eroticism is a tangible power worth harnessing.
My interest in sex, power and tension pervades this work. LIP is an outlet for anger, vanity, play and pleasure. The choreographic logic is built around the function of the sound and costume design. The sonic tropes by the remarkable Anna Whitaker, in conjunction with the fierce seamstress skills of Jarred Dewey, allowed me to sink deeper into recurring interests and touch the less familiar.
Revenge is cyclic, creative, grotesque, and horrific. Despite any motivation for closure, retributive action tends to rebound… Confucius said, “(s)he who seeks revenge digs two graves”…
Reviews of LIP
“Lip is the performance that you must see to believe. More a Performative Theatrical Piece than a dance, this is part Hellfire Club, part revenge female eroticism and part esoteric transformations of hybrid and hyper-sexualised beings.
The opening – astounding.
A flash of strobe light, a jarring screech of noise. A soulful croon – the vocal of erotically clad Anna Whitaker, a sexual call to a demon or the Other. Jenni Large, a red super-heeled masked nightmare rolls and contorts onto the stage. Ghastly yet thrilling, the two play upon each other, master and slave, slave and master as a soundtrack of crying overlays the techno thrumming soundtrack, also by Anna Whitaker. Un-believ-able.
Killer costumes by Jarred Dewey are totally next level. If you have a dream (or a nightmare) of a powerful female dominatrix who vibrates with sexual power, then here they are manifested in all their dangerous glory. The almost Japanese inspired costume of Whitaker is a fabulous foil as the two play an intimate game. Again, great lighting from Rachel Lee, which spotlights perfectly the two dancers, adding dramatic fade outs as required.
Brilliant choreography and the physicality of Large is impressive. As are the facial expressions of Whitaker – cold, calculating, yet primed for revenge.“ https://theatrematters.com.au/Reviews/pieces-2025/
Image credits:
Georgia Haupt
Driven by the lure of vengeance, two performers whip, clack and screech in a tangle of sound, body and costume.
Open wide, slip the leash, strip down.
The body is a weapon, and revenge is a complicated game.
~
Artistic Statement:
LIP is inspired by depictions of female revenge in cinema, from the 1987 blockbuster Fatal Attraction to the 2015 franchise Mad Max: Fury Road. I have also drawn influence from iconic femme fatale characterisations, such as Catwoman and Poison Ivy, whose physiological transformations into hybrid and hyper-sexualised beings are driven by vengeful incentive. The tired tale that female sexuality and the female body are dangerous proves female eroticism is a tangible power worth harnessing.
My interest in sex, power and tension pervades this work. LIP is an outlet for anger, vanity, play and pleasure. The choreographic logic is built around the function of the sound and costume design. The sonic tropes by the remarkable Anna Whitaker, in conjunction with the fierce seamstress skills of Jarred Dewey, allowed me to sink deeper into recurring interests and touch the less familiar.
Revenge is cyclic, creative, grotesque, and horrific. Despite any motivation for closure, retributive action tends to rebound… Confucius said, “(s)he who seeks revenge digs two graves”…
Reviews of LIP
“Lip is the performance that you must see to believe. More a Performative Theatrical Piece than a dance, this is part Hellfire Club, part revenge female eroticism and part esoteric transformations of hybrid and hyper-sexualised beings.
The opening – astounding.
A flash of strobe light, a jarring screech of noise. A soulful croon – the vocal of erotically clad Anna Whitaker, a sexual call to a demon or the Other. Jenni Large, a red super-heeled masked nightmare rolls and contorts onto the stage. Ghastly yet thrilling, the two play upon each other, master and slave, slave and master as a soundtrack of crying overlays the techno thrumming soundtrack, also by Anna Whitaker. Un-believ-able.
Killer costumes by Jarred Dewey are totally next level. If you have a dream (or a nightmare) of a powerful female dominatrix who vibrates with sexual power, then here they are manifested in all their dangerous glory. The almost Japanese inspired costume of Whitaker is a fabulous foil as the two play an intimate game. Again, great lighting from Rachel Lee, which spotlights perfectly the two dancers, adding dramatic fade outs as required.
Brilliant choreography and the physicality of Large is impressive. As are the facial expressions of Whitaker – cold, calculating, yet primed for revenge.“ https://theatrematters.com.au/Reviews/pieces-2025/
Image credits:
Georgia Haupt
