Tackling toxic masculinity in an hour-long Fringe show is not easy. Wee Man’s multimedia blend of dance, live video and animation, spoken word, and varied contemporary soundtrack raises questions of the form that such artistic interrogation can and should take, all while scrutinising the issue itself.
The intergenerational show is premised on a set of ‘rules’ that men of all ages are expected to live by, from dress codes to appropriate colour choices. While nodding to the newer relevance of social media, it focuses more heavily on themes that define male social life across ages. We witness a meditative zone that illuminates emotional depths rarely allowed to boys and men in conventional social spaces. The intergenerational cast, made of eight core performers, provide a breadth of contributions from light-hearted to disturbing, as they flow between mysterious, aggressive, and celebratory expressions of the male experience.
While Wee Man’s form limits the precision with which it can cut through the topic, it allows its diverse cast to impress with expressions of masculinity that feel reflective of genuine intergroup dynamics, particularly those between older and younger performers. Perhaps instead of looking for winning soundbites, we need to be exploring opportunities like this, to support space for deeper reflections that expose the physical performances we all take part in every day.
Wee Man, Assembly @ Dance Base, until 17 Aug, 7pm