Dan Light

(project)

How to Break Out of a Detention Centre

Riverside Studios · January 2023

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A performer covers her eyes beside a handheld camera rig, the gesture mirrored in a huge grainy projected close-up filling the back wall.

(about)

Video design for How To Break Out of a Detention Centre at Riverside Studios. The play tells the stories of women in immigration centres. An analogue live camera allows them to talk directly to the audience alongside pre-recorded ghostly memories and captioning to translate the five languages used.

A pregnant performer in pale scrubs and a headscarf stands before a huge projected close-up of a face, a threatening line of text above.
A performer in pale scrubs and a headscarf stands in profile before a huge green-tinted projected close-up of her own face.
A performer in scrubs and a headscarf looks to the side, a huge red-toned projected close-up of an eye and face beside her.
A performer holds a small light to her own face, her features projected huge and grainy on the wall behind.
One performer aims a handheld camera at another in scrubs, the live close-up projected huge behind, words scrawled on the floor.
A performer crouches on the floor with a camera before a huge black-and-white projected close-up of a person in uniform, words on the floor.

(next)

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A performer sings centre stage among an ensemble in dark coats, the panels behind projected with a station-name list and a shadowy figure. The Girl on the Train UK Tour (January 2025) A man rests his chin on his hand at a table, dwarfed by a huge projected close-up of his own pensive face filling the wall behind him. An Interrogation Hampstead Theatre (January 2025)