8/8/8 : WORK by Harriet Gillies and Marcus McKenzie

8/8/8 : WORK (2022)

The perfect work/life balance exists. 8 hours rest, 8 hours play, 8 hours of absurd corporate hell.

At close of play and the end of days, optimisation never ends.

The world of Comic Sans reply-alls is taken offline in this experimental marathon performance by artists Harriet Gillies and Marcus McKenzie.

Clock-in with an expert team of life coach gurus, microdosing tech-bros, multi-level marketing scammers, and an intern paid entirely in exposure for this ridiculous capitalist phantasm. As the performance spills from a CAPTCHA-esque maze of queues and QR codes and into an absurd corporate seminar, bodies will rise en masse to break free from cubicles and bring to life the Casual Friday horrors of human production lines and relentless consumption.

8/8/8: WORK is the first in a series of three performance works examining the industrialised split of our lives into neat, equal slivers of work, rest and play. Presented during RISING 2022.

ARTISTIC TEAM

Co-Creators: Harriet Gillies and Marcus McKenzie

Created and performed by: Eugene Choi, Mish Grigor, Rebecca Jensen and Peter Paltos

Producer: Thom Smyth (Unfunded Empathy).

Director: Lynsey Peisinger

Dramaturg: Lara Thoms

Production design: Romanie Harper

Lighting design: Additive Lighting

Composer/Musician: Nina Buchanan

Parafictional Trust Engineer: Derrick Duan

Digital Associate: Xanthe Dobbie

Technical Associate: Derrick Duan

Associate: Roshelle Fong

Production Manager: Nick Glen

Stage Manager: Olivia Walker

Assistant Stage Manager: Daniel Story

Interns: Zach Lewin and Grace McPherson