by Laura Kressly

Safaris evoke the dynamic of the self and the other, the watcher and the watched. As an activity, it has a colonial legacy where the ‘civilised’ travel to faraway lands to observe ‘exotic’ people and wildlife in their native habitat. More widely, considering safari’s aspect of watching, it links to the gendered phenomenon of the male gaze. In this short performance piece-cum-installation, these differing, contemporary conceptualisations of the safari converge, prompting the audience to consider how women’s bodies – especially those from the Global Majority – are exoticised, othered and preyed on in a white supremacist, heteropatriarchal society.

Each member of the audience wears headphones, through which we first hear bird song and a man’s voiceover of the sort heard on nature documentaries. This narration is anthropological in content; it positions humans as herd animals in what transforms into an urban landscape. It particularly makes a point by having a man in the position of authority who pronounces facts about human behavior when the performers are women. The sensitively designed binaural and surround sound design seems to come from all directions. The two women in the space evoke a tribal people as they smear lipstick on themselves like camouflage, or war paint. It’s evident that, with the man’s observations and women performers, that we are to consider how we perceive these women’s bodies in the world around them and that they are very much distinct others from the audience.

The sound then shifts to what is presumably verbatim testimony from women about the harassment they face in public spaces and the measures they take to stay safe. The encounters they voice are likely recognisable to all women; this makes it seem the show/installation is a didactic experience for cis men who haven’t experienced gendered abuse or harassment. Yet, towards the end we are invited to consider and then share our own stories of harassment and abuse – so perhaps the aim of the piece is more for women, and serves a therapeutic or cathartic function. In any case, there is potential benefit for both ends of the gender binary, though the content could, of course, be triggering. It also doesn’t address the violence that nonbinary, trans and gender nonconforming people face.

The production’s message is sharp and to the point, if often on the nose. The lipstick on the women’s bodies also suggests blood, or at the very least, violence. Male gaze is explicitly discussed in the audio, along with women’s expression of how they feel being looked at – there’s no subtext here. The short length also doesn’t give the artists a lot of time to explore the issue in much depth. A longer event would allow for a deeper exploration of the issue, but it effectively makes its point within the time it has.

Safari is a touring production that has previously run at Camden People’s Theatre, Theatre Deli, Battersea Arts Centre and RUNT Performance Art.

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