eco 40-60°
Live Performance, May 2025
London, UK and Bratislava, Slovakia
Co-Production with:
Mercy Theatre Collective C.I.C.
Rose Bruford College
VSMU Bratislava
A devised piece of physical theatre about how hard it is to do your laundry when you live with a lot of other people.
Winner of the Grand Prix at Istropolitana International Theatre Festival 2025 on the theme of 'Revolt'
Show Credits
Devised and Performed by:
Emile Belli, Elia Fielden, Niamh Laughlin, Anastasia Malnieva, Cassia Rose, Matilda Rose, Guy Rudin, and Marlie Tao
Dramaturgy and Production
Ivana Kováčiková and Elia Fielden
Stage Management:
Millie Graham and Han Louise
Lighting Design:
Isabel Wolf
Costume Design:
Han Louise
Review in Istropolitana Festival Journal
Text by Michaela Gádošiová
Students from Rose Bruford College in London (GB) presented their production Eco 40-60° at the 25th Istropolitana project festival. The evocative title refers to laundry as a metaphor for cleansing, or trying to tidy up one’s life. The creators, led by director Elia Fielden, decided to highlight our inability to listen to each other, to get along, to cope with everyday challenges and the ever-repeating routine through a ridiculous, grotesquely exaggerated and at times even absurd production.
The confusion in our disordered lives materializes in the ever-increasing chaos on stage. Eight actors and actresses in homespun outfits take turns delivering their monologues during the unabated bustle on stage. Each of them wants to confess, but none of the words are really heard – lines alternate, overlap, no one notices anyone. The production is thus dominated by a distinct inability to understand.
The motif of laundry (and cleaning) appears not only in the ubiquitous piles of laundry or props (clothes rack, ironing board, mop), but also in the visually arresting movement imagery. At one point, all eight performers find themselves in a kind of vortex, empowered by the large circular movements of a long white sheet in the background. It’s as if they’ve been thrown together in an unceasing merry-go-round from which there is no escape, like laundry in a washing machine. In the final part, we may be interested in the puppet-like representation of a dragon or a winged monster created from all the props present on stage. The disorder of our lives chases us, scares us, we cannot get out of it.
The production, put together as a swirling mosaic of ideas in the chaos of everyday life, delivers a number of powerful messages, but their power is suppressed because of their austere tossing to the screen. Form thus largely dominates over content. We desperately sign our names to everything that life demands of us, referred to by the escalating demands of the contract on a Mephistophelian motif – first it’s the rent, the bills, then the kidney, the soul… Despite the seriousness of the statements, humour prevails in the production, escalating to such an extent that it often provokes inexplicable hysterical fits in the audience rather than amusement.
The discordant coexistence of eight people refers to the disorderliness of the world. Is there still hope that our lives could be beautiful? Could we be happy and fulfill our dreams? The whole world could be beautiful that way. But are we willing to do anything for it? Are we willing to start listening? To finally clean up the laundry strewn across the stage? The countdown is on. So when will we start living the way we wish we could?
"The production was brimming with wit and humour, as evidenced by the unusually long applause from the audience, which even the actors themselves were not expecting judging by the expressions on their faces. The only drawback was that the production lasted a modest fifty minutes."
- Nad'a Mikšíková
