Animal review | Midsumma Festival | Hares & Hyenas

Performed as part of this year's Midsumma Festival, Animal explores what it means to be 'human' in relation to sexuality, relationships and society through the duality of man and beast. Created and performed by Mikey J. White, it is a multidisciplinary piece that incorporates theatre, music, burlesque, multimedia and spoken word that has us questioning how superior we actually are to animals.

White personifies a variety of animals throughout the show and there is an almost ritualistic process in becoming each animal through the wearing of a near-abstract, skeleton head-piece of the animal being portrayed. This results in a cleverly nuanced performance by White whereupon his physicality and mannerisms begin to be an extension of each animal. The hessian bag that is worn around his waist further highlights this duality that White is keen to explore. On the one hand, the bag is coarse and has a primal feeling to it and on the other, the makeshift trousers are a sign of respectability and civility.