Colette Sadler: The Making of Doubt

Source: The List (Issue 602)
Date: 8 May 2008
Written by: Kelly Apter

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CONTEMPORARY DANCE

She has danced throughout Europe, won a Creative Scotland award and choreographed for Belle and Sebastian. Yet the inspiration for Colette Sadler’s latest work was found practically on her doorstep. Performed by four dancers and two life-size dolls, The Making of Doubt explores our perception of the body, reality and belonging.

‘The image of the puppets was partly inspired by where I live in Glasgow,’ explains Sadler. ‘There are a lot of young people hanging around there who exist within a social system, but are somehow excluded from it. I’m not trying to represent unemployment on stage through the use of dolls, but rather the notion of something that doesn’t belong.’

During the course of the show, prosthetic limbs are detached from the two dolls and added to the performers’ bodies, playing with the notion of bodily representation. On the surface, The Making of Doubt appears to be tapping into the genetic zeitgeist. Not so, says Sadler: ‘I was looking for hybrid bodies; between being a puppet or a human, having an active or passive body, belonging or not belonging to a society. So it’s more a social question than a scientific one.’

More: Colette Sadler, Contemporary, Dolls, The Making of Doubt, Previews (Theatre), Dance

Last updated: 14 May 2008 09:08 BST