The Joystick and The Reins interrogates who decides who and what is a ‘threat’ within society, and how these ideas are reinforced through systems of oppression and authoritarianism.

Cycling through hyper-emotional states of intensity, the scene and solo figure become a site for the audience’s own projections. Stainton’s references include historical re-enactments, police and riot arrest imagery, and 1980s ‘Crime Watch’ episodes. Examining ideas of power and dominance, perpetrator and victim, threat and interpretation, the show asks; what societal constructs keep vulnerable people at risk.

Morricone’s powerful music finds resonance with Stainton’s mutual exploration of societal suspicion, psychological horror, and the devastating potential of individual isolation.

Eve Stainton: “Within the movement practice, I’m drawing from a proliferation of images that I’ve collected to form a kind of reference bank. I’m then allowing these images to cycle through me, almost like a warped overlapping playlist. These references range from the body language of a person being forcefully arrested, to how a suspect is depicted in early Crime Watch episodes, to an aggressive football fan, or someone recoiling in fear.”

The Joystick and The Reins

Producer: Michael Kitchin
Creative Producer: Sara Sassanelli
Lighting Designer: Edward Saunders
Rehearsal Director: Temitope Ajose-Cutting
Rehearsal Director: Maëva Berthelot
Choreographic Support: Florence Peake

Co-commissioned by Bold Tendencies, Dansehallerne (DK), Transform, The Place and performance, possession + automation (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council). Supported by Queen Mary University of London, Old Diorama Arts Centre, Den Frie Udstilling (DK), SLUG (DE) and L’Ecart.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.