parthenogenesis:

Since the late 1800s, the medical profession has diagnosed people who expressed little interest in sex with ‘sexual coldness’, or ‘sexual anaesthesia’.

They aren't healthy. They aren’t right. They’re broken. That's what we all say.

“Because who would invest time and effort into a relationship that isn't going to get them any sex?”
 
parthenogenesis: is a multidisciplinary documentary theatre production that aims to restart conversations about love and sex, and how society has hardwired us to believe that we're unable to be whole without either. Audiences will find themselves on an immersive excavation of marginalised history; of asexual individuals and identities from antiquity to modernity. It is an unorthodox collaboration of multiple art forms, incorporating raw testimony, academic research, site-specific physicality, multimedia, and spoken word – the fusion unfolding beneath the surface where everyone's in the dark.

It is led by a diverse all-womxn team, with both performer and director identifying as asexual. We aim to spark awareness of intersectional perspectives (e.g. an asexual Arab / Indian / Malay woman in Singapore), and to spotlight unseen minority communities in and beyond the region. We believe in questioning and expanding traditions - including current definitions of LGBTQ+ experiences, discrimination, and the relationships society prioritises. We are also looking to contribute to the local theatrical landscape, and to reinvigorate creative cross-industry discourse.

parthenogenesis: was staged to widespread critical acclaim in September 2020, receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback. We have been commissioned to return to The Substation in March 2021, this time in their atmospheric SAD Bar underground space - and we aim to bring the entire performance site to life. We want to take our concept and material further, and make this a truly emotive representation of those whose voices have been ignored, suppressed, and invalidated for far too long.

Images by Thomas Brunning Photography

Financé par Singapore (December 2020)