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lie with me - riah knightlie with me
Riah Knight is a British-Romani artist based in Berlin whose practice spans acting, music, writing, and dramaturgy. Raised around the UK Romani activist movement, she developed a keen political awareness from a young age, and continues to engage in activism through her art.
Glossy Pain takes the audience to bed in their comedic one-woman show. How can we be vulnerable with each other, when the world around us demands us to be hard? How can we expect others to be honest, if we're not even honest with ourselves?
Teasing and tormenting both herself and the audience, Riah Knight questions the authenticity of performance, seeking answers from religious and mythical figures.
With a characteristic blend of humour and introspection and featuring original music, this English-language solo promises to ignite discussion. Come lie with us!
"So, I started doing the penis hex.
You know hex hex! I got it from this book…
It's a bit like a fairy tale in the beginning since it’s all about witches and stuff.
But the more you read it, it turns into a mediaeval BDSM…
The Malleus Maleficarum, oder the Hexenhammer auf Deutsch."
Creators
teaser
Background
“Riah Knight, from the performance collective Glossy Pain, asks herself and the audience whether she can fulfill the audience’s expectations. The self-questioning performer (…) and the other soloists certainly fulfil one expectation: their monologues live from the audience, their direct address and their reactions.
(…)
Already during the rehearsal Riah Knight from Glossy Pain brings a moving performance on stage. “Lie with me” is the name of her one-woman piece. She is lying on a polar bear style fur and doesn’t know what to do with the pressure of all the expectations placed on her; as a woman during sex, and as an actress on the stage. If performance itself is a lie, she asks herself, then what does it mean to perform not to perform? And yet Knight succeeds pretty well at the not-performing. From Eve and Lilith to witches, not only historical role models are played out, but also private relationship models. And volunteers from the audience! “Lie with me” promises to be a cheerful evening, for everyone involved.”
- Gerd Brendel, Rang 1, Deutschlandfunk Kultur - 11 November 2023
Focus scene
Reviews
“An acclaimed one-woman show… This thought-provoking performance delves into the quest for an ‘authentic’ female desire, free from the constraints of the male gaze.”
THEATER VILLAGE
“Much more fun than I was expecting.”
MALE AUDIENCE MEMBER
materials to read
excerpts from the playphoto credits
All rights reserved
*left -> right*
1-7: ©Szandra Kovács_Riah Knight