RiMo
2014 | Devised Physical Theatre Performance
RiMo is an early devised performance exploring creativity, uncertainty, restraint and release through movement, symbolic action and visual metaphor.
Developed before the later psychological language of the wider practice had fully formed, the work marks an early threshold in which recurring symbolic figures, contrasting states and the idea of unlocking began to emerge.
Developed and performed between April and May 2014 as part of the Hilltown Studio Theatre Performance Arts Training Programme, the work was supported through LEADER funding and presented at Hilltown Perform Festival on 25 May 2014.
“Eventually you realize that sometimes to unpack, in reality, you have to pack — or repack may be a better description. Take stock of your belongings there, take only what you need. Some items will have served their purpose; think of them fondly, but discard them, for you’ve new things to gather on your way.” - Artist’s journal, March 2014
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Performed by Aishling Muller and Vickie Branigan
Documentation: El Putnam
Developed with guidance from El Putnam and David Stalling
What role can creativity play in helping us navigate change?
Locks, chains, keys and two contrasting black-and-white figures formed the symbolic language of the performance. Through repeated physical actions, restraint and release were enacted through the body rather than explained through narrative.
RiMo marked the first appearance of symbolic figures that would later recur throughout Muller’s practice, carrying questions of identity, duality, perception and transformation.
One action became particularly significant in retrospect: while the black figure worked through acts of release, the white figure quietly collected the discarded locks. What initially functioned as an intuitive performative gesture would later suggest a recurring pattern across the wider practice. The gathering of symbolic material before its meaning is consciously understood.
The performance was partly informed by a recurring dream in which a small instruction appeared:
“Unlock RiMo and you will unlock everything.”
The title became a catalyst rather than an explanation. Its meaning remained unresolved, allowing the work to develop through physical action, symbolic tension and intuitive response.
Seen from the perspective of the later practice, RiMo represents an early stage in the development of a visual and embodied symbolic language, one in which material that could not yet be articulated directly was given form through movement, object, character and image.
Performance documentation and archival material available on request.
The magic of expression free,
something which we all should see,
to guide us through our darkest night,
return us to our place of light.