Writer/Director: Moon Kim
Assistant Director: Tess Murison
Reviewer: Lela Tredwell
BURSARY WINNER OF BIRD & BLEND SUSTAINABILITEA AND SHORTLISTED FOR THE BRIGHTON FRINGE BEST SHOW AWARD
Daring, highly innovative, beautifully constructed theatre which defies expectations and distorts reality, The Arms is a surrealist fever dream. The production grabs hold of creative risks and gobbles them down for breakfast. Its audacity is inspiring and with its adventurous spirit we board a rollercoaster ride through this distorted evolution of magic realism and the New Weird.
To find theatre that is this fresh and this original is rare. From a false beat at the start of The Arms we are thrown out of our unconscious rhythm and into its unsettling grip. Off guard now we try to settle but The Arms won’t let us. Part of the true magic of this production is how surprising it is. Just when we think we know where we are headed the piece pivots and we fly off into an unexpected consequence or an unlikely sequence.
Staged in The Old Net Loft above The Brighton Fishing Museum, the set, designed by Vysh Krishnan, feels right at home. A net on the back wall captures two large distorted geckos, created by sculptor Elaina Fielding. Their long pronged spiky fingers reflect the gnarly arms that litter the stage. We are already engaged like we have stumbled into an exhibit. The promise of the marketing of the show has been delivered and these delicious, while also rather monstrous forms, beckon us further into their world.
Writer and director, Moon Kim saw Elaina Fielding’s sublime sculptures, inspired by forks, and immediately perceived arms. It is here that the origins of the piece were born so it is fitting that they are our initial introduction to the story. Then Domi (Rosalind Jackson Roe) strides onto the stage to join her appendages. She’s a woman with a mission, to reach out and aid the world, to feed the hungry and to save the polar bears. The only way she can conceive meeting her intentions is to grow longer arms. She tries but struggles until she discovers the formula for making more limbs. This she explains to us in a beautifully absurd instructional sequence.
With many more arms than the expected norm, Domi is propelled into the public eye where she gives talks on how her arms are working to heal the world. However, her neighbour Sora (Carolina Emidio) is starting to grow suspicious of the eight armed woman who lives next door. Seeing a threat to the community, and the natural order, Sora starts to spy on Domi and makes assumptions about how and why she has obtained all these extra limbs. A feud starts between the two women that takes numerous alarming twists.
Seeds that are planted from the very early moments of the play come to fruition as we discover Domi to be an unreliable narrator. There is an instant later in the play where our seemingly dependable, all-giving Domi, does something entirely unexpected. We won’t spoil that moment but it is an exhilarating shift that turns the play and the world on its head. The Arms keeps us guessing and we are enraptured by its many layers. Rosalind Jackson Roe, as Domi, and Carolina Emidio, as Sora, both give exceptionally bold and skilful performances that bring their complex characters to life.
Sound designer and composer Ábel M.G.E. created the tones for each part using notes: Domi – Do Me, and Sora – So Ray. That kind of detail creates coherence in a piece that includes, by design, a great deal to throw us off track. Original compositions by Ábel are highly effective, including the startling electronic soundscape that accompanies the police, and another that breaths life into Soya’s haunting whispers.
This is such a rich piece of theatre. The crew throw us whole-heartedly into a surreal unsettling world and we are changed by it. It reflects many elements of our modern experiences through an intelligent treatment of the uncanny, smashing modern culture and technology into age old conflicts. Writer and director Moon Kim is an extraordinary talent who has assembled a highly skilful creative team to realise her vision. Originally from South Korea, Moon has a unique way of depicting the warring neighbours that must be seen to be fully appreciated. The show extends well beyond its borders. We leave feeling enchanted, invigorated, and that we have just witnessed something truly original.
Reviewed on the 31st May 2025
