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Future Of The Species.
 "It's
sad, and there's not much hope for her at the end. It's happy
and its grotesque, and there are things done to a sausage so
that you'll never look at a sausage the same way again," laughs
Maud Davey about her new work, 'Future Of The Species' which
she performs for Vitalstatistix Theatre Company as part of the
Feast Festival..
"... two weeks out, its always terrifying, it's always the same. It's low level anxiety and depression," she says, not entirely seriously of her progress for the performance of 'Future Of The Species'. Evidently she, realises at this point she's striking a note not entirely optimistic, and that her alarm should perhaps highlight the subject matter of 'Future Of The Species', a one person show, conceived and written, and performed, by her. It's quite a horrifying scenario.
"This is part one of a projected trilogy which deals with the individual body.
"Part 2, which I'm thinking about, is dealing with the smallest unit of society, so it looks at the family and the way it interacts and gets things done; but the first bit is all about the individual.
Essentially, she examines a woman's role in society through her fecundity. A woman enters into a contract to sell her eggs to a corporation - the term of the contract being a period of seven years. Essentially she becomes part of the corporation - hooked up to the system and her eggs are harvested through pipes to which she is attached - she becomes for that time a kind of 'battery hen' woman.
"Ah yes, she is exactly like that, and yesterday was the last day of that contract period," Davey tells me.
One of things which has sharpened Davey's interest in the project at this time is the rise of a political party like Family First.... and the latest moves afoot in the ongoing battle over abortion.
We live in deeply conservative times, people seem timid. but isn't the issue really quite simple? Women should have the right to control their own bodies. Full stop!
'Future Of The Species' doesn't just deal with the ethical and moral dilemmas behind such as business consideration, it considers the societal problems which surround the issues. In a set of circumstances which sound positively Orwellian in their chilling possibilities, through the performance Davey considers the impact upon the individual almost as one might examine a prison population.
"I'm looking at how someone might prepare themselves to re-enter the world after a time like that, at what it might mean for them," she mentions.
It is not a big leap in logic to see that such a situation could lead to a woman becoming wedded to the system, unable to readjust or deal with a life 'outside', in much the same way that long term prisoners have been known to re-offend so they might return to the life they know and are familiar with, on the inside.
"Currently in America they pay young women to give them eggs for stem cell colonies," Davey tells me, so the ethical considerations behind her ideas are not that far-fetched. This is, I hasten to add, not a situation we could currently face in Australia due to our laws regarding the sale of body parts for medical procedures.
"We're talking about the destruction of embryos for research purposes, and to add in things like 'moral' as a word is highly suspect. The way it's used now, Moral connotes a Christian way of thinking. It's very confronting, are the issues of stem cell research and the exercising of choice.
'Future Of The Species' all comes together under the direction of Ingrid Voorendt, for whom Davey has nothing but praise.
"Although I'm somebody who prefers a visceral experience in the theatre I love text, and I often revert to a text heavy mode. Bringing in someone whose practice is essentially physical has been great," she laughs.
"She's been very restrained, but has made some cuts. I have to hand it to her, she's been good. She's got me doing a dance, a grotesque parody of the Minogue sisters, Kylie and Dannii."
I cannot imagine how these two pop sisters manage to turn up in a performance such as this, and Davey will enlighten me no further than to assure me "It's a cracking piece at good pace with great music."
Alex Wheaton
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'Future Of The Species' opens at the Space Theatre on Tues 23 Nov as part of the Feast Festival.
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