Romi Sarfaty and Dale Williamson - The Pathetic Planet

Graduate Residency 19 August to 24 August 

Multidisciplinary arts duo Romi Sarfaty and Dale Williamson are using their graduate residency to develop their show The Pathetic Planet, an operatic absurdist melodrama. This work explores themes of existentialism, stagnant shame and consumerism/commodification in the face of current zeitgeists, social fears and expectations. The piece is presented in an episodic nature, dictated by varying personas and their constant urge for ecstasy in order to fill the void.

'We would like to research and develop another iteration of this arc to unpack and exhaust the dichotomies between pleasure/pain and hysteria/fulfilment. We will achieve this through a movement exploration that stems from body archive and Butoh techniques in conjunction with our shared practice of subconscious free writing.'

About Romi Sarfaty and Dale Williamson

'We are a collaborative duo of multidisciplinary visual and performance art, based in Scotland. Our work explores the building of new worlds and mythologies, centred around lateral thinking and subconscious imagery. Working passionately with absurdity, abstraction and melodrama we create stories of fantastical dreams/nightmares and new arrangements of reality. Our otherworldly sets, costumes and personas express extreme feelings of love, anguish and melancholia. We are driven by working with an authentic state of self, incorporating unashamedly neurodivergent ‘accidents’ and ‘mistakes’. Our practice is rooted in gratitude for what there is, resisting the impulse to focus on what there isn’t. Considering the visual as the most crucial way of thinking; working alongside artists, non-artists, friends, lovers and their surrounding landscapes. We unrelentingly explore methods of existing and evolving in these tumultuous times.'

Visit Romi's website  
Visit Dale's website

Find both on Instagram: @Romi___chan // @elm_creep

Romi and Dale are recipients of a Graduate Residency 2024, one of our week-long residencies for recent performance graduates in partnership with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's Contemporary Performance Practice course. Supported by Take Me Somewhere and Tramway.

Image 1- The Titty Twins. Photo - Jassy Earl