An ordinary domestic object becomes a rabbit hole into migrant labour, distorted histories of industrialisation, gendered bodies, and the systems that decide whose work—and whose life—is disposable.
Drawing on the language of instruction manuals, the piece transforms cleaning, repair, and repetition into a surreal theatrical performance. As the performers attempt to fix the machine, the boundaries between worker and appliance begin to collapse. Bodies malfunction, instructions fail, and the promise of efficiency gives way to resistance.
Combining sound, movement, and vocal performance, User Manual for a Failed Machine is playful, unsettling, and visually inventive. It asks what happens when people are treated like machines, and what forms of care, solidarity, and collective survival might emerge when those machines finally refuse to function.
A work by KASSNA
Cast
Suyoung Park
Seayool
Eden Jun
Creative Team
Lead Artist, Writer and Director: Namoo Chae Lee
Movement and Choreography: Suyoung Park
Composer and Sound Designer: Seayool
Video Designer: Wilfred Wong
Creative Technologist: Aniket Joshi
Lighting Designer: Slice of Light (Sammy Kissin & Nurul Wardani)
'Thoughtful and thoroughly engaging,
'Inventive, energetic production' - North West End UK ★★★★★
'Darkly comic and uniquely creative'
'A masterclass in the versatility of a single prop' - The Upcoming ★★★★