Brighton Fringe 2026
Resonant Void
Joanna Rosenfeld
Genre: Absurd Theatre, Contemporary, Dance and Movement Theatre, Experimental, Experimental Art, Installation Theatre, Movement, One Person Show, Performance Art, Physical Theatre, Visual Art
Venue: The Lantern Theatre
Festival: Brighton Fringe
Low Down
Intimate – delicate – visually stunning.
This performance blurs the lines between theatre and performance art – walking into a live installation – a Butoh performance that is rare for the Brighton Fringe Circuit. You must have patience and a desire for being present as you watch Joanna Rosenfeld create moments of juxtaposing imagery that breaks traditional norms of everyday movement with the inner workings of the body not external forces or imitations. This isn’t about striking necessary poses, but the internal flow – what is going on from your inner, finding your ‘selfless state.’
Whether you have heard of Butoh or can appreciate the work in it’s authenticity, you will be mesmerised by Rosenfeld’s shifts in energy and the more traditional forms seen in this performance, evolving in the 1970’s – grounded in movement with slow motion walking, as if time was simply irrelevant and you almost feel the body has experienced decades of change – forever morphing – the internal as the driving force in the performance as opposed to external factors influencing each motif.
This solo performance was formed in Nagoya, at a residency developed at the Hijikata Archieve.
Performed and created by Joanna Rosenfeld, with supporting Dramaturgy by Conan Amok.
Review
Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno were the founders of Butoh – emerging in Japanese culture in the late 1950s, as a response to the rejection of ‘traditional’ formulaic routine based movements observed in western theatre and dance. Butoh really challenges the body athletically, spiritually, mentally and confronts the audience with the ‘inner’ workings of the unconscious. I see many parallels here with the ideas of theatre discussed by Antonin Artaud and his need to ‘disrupt’ and ‘question’ everyday normality, so it’s no surprise that Hijikata was influenced by ‘The Theatre of Cruelty’. It’s not to say there are no obvious themes in Butoh, the style can be improvised, but what is key is the body’s internal imagination that adapts to specific environments – for example, the talented ensemble Dairakudakan and their response to the damaged landscape that still holds the lasting taste of the atomic bomb released in 1945 on Hiroshima land. Butoh can be just as interesting when performed solo or as an ensemble, and here – in The Lantern theatre you will discover Rosenfeld’s creation. Her movements are simple hypnotic, picture the music video from Madonna’s music video ‘Frozen’, her hidden image in black evoking new shapes as the wind moves through time, but there is no AI here just the impressive heightened states of Rosenfeld’s body – the mechanics of an inner force that is hard to put into words. This performance doesn’t just challenge the performer, but challenges the audience as we naturally try to find a narrative that we can associate to everyday life – but you won’t find that reasoning here – this is an experience, a ritual, a pure enigmatic moment where time does stand still.
Abosrbing your surroundings within The Lantern Theatre, you will see the space transformed by large plastic sheets and in the centre a transparent tent, a simplistic mosquito net. The way these materials are earthed at Rosenfeld’s disposal are simply beautiful, forming expressionistic shadows – the perfect extension to her work and imagination. Nothing feels out of place, as she bends and revolts into new found positions. For me, this work was impressive as you really couldn’t tell where Rosenfeld began, or ended, at times her head would disappear into the darkness of her skirt to re-emerge from a new found centre. Her work draws influences from the Gutai art movement here also, as both Gutai and Butoh performances are known for experimentation with items in unconventional ways – a mosquito net is associated with keeping insects out, but here Rosenfeld fleets between the comfort in this cocoon to the internal need to get out. You may have created some shapes like this when trying to take a tent down, but Rosenfeld takes the choregraphed sequences to another level, all enhanced by her walking silhouette and rooted moments of static within the mosquito net. There is no sense of imitation, just a sense of inner spiritual markings of animalistic qualities – I loved when her body became an animal slowly trembling across the performance space, like a new born lamb, whilst the head was fully concealed – Rosenfeld was the pure embodiment of walking art as the fabric felt sculpted around her body, as her legs found their grounding in the earth.
‘An Art of Time’ – a cyclical ritual of life and death – Rosenfeld and Conan Amak gave us this, at moments you feel the beginnings of something, the sunset and twilight manifestation and the pain – each in every heightened fixature of motif and slow motion grains of sand – the choregraphed sequences that leave you complexed. I loved the moments of repetition, the quick repetitive running looped across the space, with moments of stillness as Rosenfeld breaks through the plastic sheet with her face, slowly bringing the whole contained space down that melts into new found worlds. Wow. Rosenfeld captures the discipline and seamless transitions of principled features of Butho dating back from practitioner Zeami Motokiyo and the art of appearing to do nothing on stage – I enjoyed the moments of wide eyed glances into the audience that were still, carefully held through inner tension. I am interested to know what parts of this performance are improvised or choreographed and if so, how different the performance would be on a second viewing. I am invested to see more of her work – a standout of the festival.
Seeing this style of theatre is so rare and memorable, stay present, hold your focus and embark on something special for this year’s festival.
