Cover Image: Performers merge into a dense, machine‑like configuration of articulated limbs and metal structures, amplifying the work’s industrial, hybrid choreography. Photo: Gianna Rizzo.

U>N>I>T>E>D – by Chunky Move
Heath Ledger Theatre, Perth Festival
Thursday, 19 February 2026

Entering early, as I did, in the empty auditorium at the Heath Ledger Theatre was a bonus in itself. The quiet, the exposed stage, and the set belied what was to come. But what a set – a scaffolding of steel towers – one horizontal dividing the stage in two, and others at angles, the whole suggesting either a car assembling factory or a tangle of toppled giant cranes left behind from a disused port. A few strange contraptions hung from the steel rungs.

This then was the world of Chunky Moves’  U>N>I>T>E>D described as being as much about what you feel as what you see. It is just that. First the sound stuns the senses –  a non-stop whirl of drums and beats, rhythm and atonal alarms; then the six dancers performing in groups, duos and solos, hypnotising in their intense and aggressive demeanour and their ease and familiarity with the industrial armour into which they clamber.

These six performers, Madeleine Bowman, Melissa Pham, David Prakash, Samakshi Sidhu, Robert Alejandro Tinning and Jayden Wall need a citation. They are dressed in the street-wear look of loose trousers and bare tops, and are brilliant, in a demanding almost non-stop whirl of movement hooking and unhooking themselves into heavy contraptions that swing along the conveyor belt of the scaffolding. They turn into crawling spider-like creatures or Gladiatorial figures. They slide on knees, form two lines facing the audience and gesticulate with a kaleidoscope of movement stemming it would seem from moon walking, floor dancing, to Boots Scootin’ but so much more advanced, out of this world and magnetic that you couldn’t take your eyes from them. Unarmoured, the men topless, at the finale, the end of a gruelling 55 minutes, they looked admirably invincible still. For those of us whose arms hurt when they clap, it was much to be admired.  

The lighting is a major part of what you feel, stabbing bursts of colour across the scaffolding darkening the corners where the dancers cluster, and illuminating their chests with two round bulbs like bicycle lights – sometimes the only things that indicate their whereabouts. It created a visceral sense of danger  and expectation.

You find yourself wondering where they are –  in a cave they’ve fashioned for themselves, in a disused factory, in a world that has been decimated by inattention to climate change, or nuclear power? And why are they there, just six of them, in this dark dismal, unadorned space and what is the tension between them and if they wake up and do this dance every day – no sky no sea no colours. And how are they adjusting to the superhuman and immortal power of machines. In our burgeoning AI world, it certainly gets you thinking.

This dystopian world has been created by Chunky Move’s Artistic Director and Choreographer Antony Hamilton, long known to have an interest in man and machine, and Javanese Experimental Electronic Music group Gabber Modus Operandi. The animatronics derive from Creative Technology Company, the costumes from Bali-based label Future Loundry and the lighting design stems from Benjamin Cisterne and Nicholas Moloney.

This accumulated bunch of talent is a made to measure wonder, creating a scenario that heralds the future we might well have to grapple with – well perhaps already are. There are a lot of us walking around with implanted mechanic devices for knees and hips not to mention the amazing contraptions replacing severed limbs. U>N>I>T>E>D  is one of those productions you’ll be very very sorry to have missed. One senses, however, and hopefully, a sequel soon enough.

U>N>I>T>E>D is showing at the Heath Ledger Theatre from 19–22 February; for more information and tickets, visit: https://www.perthfestival.com.au/program/season-2026/united