Photos by Dom Boyson 2007

Cogito Ergo Sum - CHINA Theatre Company CHINA Theatre Company’s third production, ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’ was staged as a matinee and evening performance at Venue 4 on Tuesday 3rd April 2007. Around 120 attended the evening performance at which Breakthro Dance Company also performed their piece ‘Refract’. * ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’ is a trilogy of short pieces which have been developed over the last year by the team and cast through workshops in dance, drama, music and visual arts. Cogito Ergo Sum involves a cast of 28 performers and explores themes of individuality, thinking, perception and speaking out. The first piece of the trilogy, ‘A Chorus of Common Sense’ tells a story in which a billionaire, is the face of the capitalist system and the Mexican fisherman, a symbol of sustainable low impact living. CHINA Theatre Company retells an old tale knowing that it can reinterpreted in many ways – at the core is the fact that some people are totally convinced that their perception of the world is right and everyone else’s wrong, even if all the facts suggest otherwise In the second piece, ‘Silent Scream’ the audience follows a young boy through a torrid journey. We see him forced to take his secrets (which cause him pain, fear and misery) and lock them away. Keeping this silence makes him feel trapped and it keeps him in a self-perpetuating cycle of violence. Eventually he sees that release is his only option and symbolically he breaks down the bars that have kept him confined and breaks out of his silence. In ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’, the final piece of the trilogy, CHINA explores Descartes’ phrase ‘I think therefore I am’. The piece sees CHINA Theatre Company work together to produce a performance featuring dance, projections, song and true life stories. The piece is best summed up by its monologue: ‘Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am, no matter what our differences, race, beliefs or apprearance, we all think therefore we are, people… human beings, Each an individual in our own right’. To view the CHINA website, click here Breakthru is an integrated project of Frontline Dance Company - to view their website, click here.