James Reynolds

Hypermobility and uncanny praxis in Robert Lepage and Ex Machina's devised solo work

Abstract Since their first performances in 1994, Robert Lepage and Ex Machina have engaged continuously with mobility by staging characters displaced physically or emotionally from home. Consequently, their narratives experiment with the relationship between onstage and offstage worlds, and inevitably produce un-homely, uncanny effects. These features underpin the hyper-mobility of their theatre, which is further articulated by material and aesthetic practices of mobility, including touring, marketing, and animated scenography. Although this hyper-mobility exploits the theatrical potential of the uncanny, this does not result in an alienating, depoliticised theatre practice. Rather, a complex reading of mobility is generated – particularly in relation to the idea of the city – by the intertwining of an aesthetic of active space with ideas and images of both spatial and social mobility. This reading creates a picture of a hyper-mobile theatre practice with vital, contemporary relevance. It also produces a new description of Lepage’s spatial aesthetic, enables his work to be re-positioned within a particular category of post-modern performance, and characterises Lepage and Ex Machina’s praxis positively.