"This is a brave, committed performance which trusts superior skills, emotional truth and
careful design to illuminate one of the biggest questions in life.."
Stage Whispers, Ruth Richter
INGRESS
A virtuosic summoning of the defiant human spirit..
An astonishing intersection of circus, physical theatre and movement, INGRESS is an award-winning, one woman show.
Using a stunning hybrid of skills, INGRESS is a dark and inspiriting venture into a woman's psyche as she desperately and defiantly attempts to unburden herself from the real and imagined limitations of her being, to live with an urgency and euphoria that only an ending allows..
Witness exquisite contortions and tumbles, ascensions on aerial straps, succumbing at times to gravity whilst fearlessly working against it.
Inspired by the Greek Myth of Psyche, provoking the central question: if you cannot die, how do you live? Considered from a present day perspective and drawing on symbolism around time’s passage and how we mark it, the work turns this question of immortality back on us, asking whether acknowledging our mortality can inspire us to live more fully in spirit and heart.
An exclamatory, humorous and gutsy celebration of our living, Ingress celebrates the mortal spirit at its fullest, as a woman takes repossession of her life and death – the reimagined journey of a modern-day Psyche...
2021 Matilda Award Winner for Best Circus/Physical Theatre
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2022 Winner for WA Touring Award
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2022 Nomination Best Circus Award
Melbourne Fringe Festival 2022 Nomination Spirit of Fringe Award
Lead Artist : Bridie Hooper
Outside Eye: Susie Dee
Outside Eye, Sound Design: Todd Kilby
Lighting Design: Jason Glenwright
Costume Design: Gail Sorronda
Producer: Tom Pritchard
photo by: Cecilia Martin
Photo- Jessica Connell
Photo by: Hwa Goh
photo by: Cecilia Martin
A note on Ingress- Bridie Hooper
Ingress is born from a desire to acknowledge and celebrate the mortal spirit.
The definition of ‘ingress’ — to enter, an entry — mirrors my personal attachment to this show; my first endeavour as an independent creator and producer. A beginning.
An entry into the expansion of my practice as an artist.
Firstly inspired by the Greek Myth of Psyche and Eros, I started thinking about immortality, the famed ‘golden deathlessness’, whether the gift of it would not instead become an imposition...
If you cannot die how do you live?
I felt a need to rally for the mortal spirit. To acknowledge our ending and, in turn, celebrate our living — with a sumptuous sensitivity and exclamation that we often misplace. And so Ingress became. A convening with spirit, a reckoning with
effort, a wrestle with vulnerability, I wanted to revive the magic, the euphoria of being mortal.
But it’s not all death! Ingress also embarks on a woman’s self discovery, to
rewrite her story, repossess her life and untether herself from her myth. The figure of Psyche took a central role in this mission; her story of condemned curiosity, her limited ownership over her life, as did the definition of her Greek name: spirit. This sense of spirit ignited me; it’s essence of being, of divinity, of our incorporeal self. How connecting with spirit can inspire courage, trust, an ambition to live with hunger and authorship.
Ingress journeys into a woman’s deep desire to live autonomously,
courageously, armed with her spirit, divinity, curiosity and mortality.
INGRESS 2021 debut season was supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, the Judith Wright Arts Centre and Creative Partnerships Australia. It was made possible thanks to the generosity of all those who donated to its fundraising campaign, your benevolence is deeply appreciated and made this work possible.
Lead Commissioners:
Charlie Cush
Jacinta and Simon Hooper
Lucinda Hooper
David and Kerrie Kilby
Michael Lynch AO CBE
Krysia Walker
Key Supporters:
Nathan Boyle
Marty Evans
Fabien Lauton
Linda Nakell and Robert Dawson
Essential Donors:
Janelle Jerks
Angela and Reece Maxwell
Lisa McCready
Kathryn and Paul O'Keeffe
Tom and Rainer Pritchard
Billie Wilson-Coffey
INGRESS 2022 Melbourne Fringe season was supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body, and the National Institute of Circus Arts through the NICA Residency program.
