In a Thousand Pieces

In a Thousand Pieces combines verbatim reportage with super-slick stylized movement. The show uses fragments of dialogue, projection and recorded speech to accompany three actresses as they offer a portrayal of life within Britain’s sex industry, a portrayal that challenges the Western European definition of Eastern Europe as an inspecific cultural conglomerate considered ripe for exploitation.

The show begins with Amelie-esque quaintness: three girls in matching smocks hold forties-style suitcases and look ready for a journey. A quarter of an hour later these three girls are writhing on the floor wrestling their knickers down around their ankles in the most powerful depiction of rape I have ever seen.

The stultifying power of many of the physical scenes is off-set by the quirky and delightful use of props. Suitcases are used as beds, blackboards and lift doors, as well as being portable costume-cupboards. The symbolism is subtle and at times could do with more explanation, but the slow release of information did lend gravitas to the final section where one symbol, the oft-featured ice-cream, is explained. A woman is sold for £1500. In a year she is raped 1500 times, thus, each rape costs just £1 – the price of an ice-cream.

This show undermines any position that questions the absolute barbarity of the sex trade. The audience is left feeling ignorant and inactive, creating a sense of discomfort that is essential to the ethical mission of this work. This show is politically astute, ethically challenging and remarkably involving. You have a responsibility to go and see it.

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