What if artificial intelligence ruled the world? Would we all automatically become intellectually disabled? These questions are explored in the performance The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes by the acclaimed Australian troupe Back to Back Theatre—questions made all the more urgent when articulated by a company composed entirely of internationally renowned professional actors with intellectual disabilities. The show’s title references a Charles Perrault folktale, which is itself inspired by an Aesop fable. In the story, a dog carrying a piece of meat in its mouth while crossing a bridge is deceived by its reflection in the water. Mistaking the image for another dog with an even greater prize, it lunges after the illusion—only to lose both its real meal and the imagined one.
Employing themes of human rights, gender politics, and the looming prevalence of artificial intelligence, the play unfolds like an open, democratic assembly that ingeniously escalates into a revelatory confrontation, laying bare all that divides us and binds us together. Through a barrage of missteps, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and misconceptions, it invites us to reconsider what we deem “normal,” as well as the assumptions we make about ourselves and others, serving as a reminder that no one exists in isolation and that we all bear responsibility—both personal and collective.
Since its founding in 1987, Back to Back Theatre, a pocket regional troupe based in Geelong, near Melbourne in southeastern Australia, has been producing trailblazing and subversive works that initiate dialogue, yet do not accommodate easy answers.
In a society consumed by perfection and uniformity, the troupe's uniqueness shines through. Co-signed by the actors themselves, the works strive to defy entrenched yet unspoken perceptions of what is possible, both in theatre and in life. Over the past two decades, the troupe has toured extensively worldwide and amassed numerous prestigious international awards.
This year, Back to Back Theatre received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale, while in 2022, it was honoured with the world's most esteemed theatre prize, the International Ibsen Award, which is bestowed on an individual, organisation, or institution within the arts for extraordinary achievement in the realm of theatrical art.
The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes has been co-commissioned by Carriageworks, Theater der Welt 2020, Düsseldorf, the Keir Foundation, the Thyne Reid Foundation, and The Anthony Costa Foundation, supported by Creative Partnerships Australia through Plus 1, with additional development support from the Geelong Arts Centre, Arts Centre Melbourne, the Melbourne International Arts Festival, the Une Parkinson Foundation, The Public Theater (New York), and ArtsEmerson (Boston).
The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes was developed, in part, at the 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab at MASS MoCA.
Credits:
Text: Michael Chan, Mark Deans, Bruce Gladwin, Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price, Sonia Teuben
Direction: Bruce Gladwin
Cast: Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price
Music composition: Luke Howard Trio—Daniel Farrugia, Luke Howard, Jonathon Zion
Sound design: Lachlan Carrick
Lighting design: Andrew Livingston, bluebottle
Screen design: Rhian Hinkley, lowercase
Costume design: Shio Otani
Voice: ΤΝ Belinda McClory
Text composition advisor: Melissa Reeves
Creative development: Mark Cuthbertson, Rhian Hinkley, Pippin Latham, Andrew Livingston, Victoria Marshall, Brian Tilley
Stage manager: Alana Hoggart
Sound engineer: Peter Monks
Company manager: Erin Watson
Production manager: Bao Ngouansavanh
Tour producer: Tanya Bennett
Executive producer: Tim Stitz
Language English (with Greek and English surtitles)
Greek surtitles: Menelaos Karantzas
Back to Back Theatre is supported by the Australian Government throug
