I’d Rather Humble Than Hero (2014) was a show that explored society’s fascination with fame, image and disposable culture. This show was created in collaboration with the artist Gary Gardiner, it first premiered at the Tramway in March 2014, it later went on to be presented at Chrysalis Festival at the Traverse (2015).
The company were interested in exploding the idea of the modern day ‘hero’ and asked many questions including: Who and what do we look up to? What influences us? Who do we look to for guidance? What shapes our moral values? Through this interrogation the company developed a performance that looked celebrity, advertising and capitalist culture and its influence on young people in todays society. This piece was highly choreographic; it took iconic images from contemporary culture and recreated, reinterpreted and reimagined them in an attempt to better understand the influence they have on our us as human begins.
The company performed this work in the main stage auditorium, Tramway One. The design was a while dance floor with a white gauze screen with a camera set up at the front, one on the diagonal and one above. The show was filmed from these different angles and projected on to the screen behind. On either side of the space where tables set up with wigs, makeup, sunglasses and costume rails of clothes suggesting a fashion shoot might be about to take place. As the performance progressed the cameras were turned off one at a time, the lighting became sparser and our focus was solely on the performers.