About

Andrea Salustri 'Materia'

Part of Brighton Festival 2024

In a magical world of objects, somewhere between contemporary circus, choreography and beguiling physical theatre, 'Materia' is a pas-de-deux between performer and polystyrene.

Andrea Salustri practised object and fire manipulation as a busker before studying contemporary dance and choreography. On stage, alone with polystyrene panels and spheres, Salustri now brings all his skills together in Materia, where he shapes, manipulates and transforms the apparently lifeless in order to reveal its secret vitality. By turn exquisite and powerful.

'Materia' has developed beyond the stage, to the creation of art works made from the waste collected at the end of every performance and with the search for total sustainability through an original form of composting.

The Guardian listed the one-man performance as one of its 50 best shows to see at Edinburgh Fringe 2022 describing it as an ‘object-theatre odyssey’.

Co-produced by PERPLX

‘… a symphony made from imaginative use of this most basic material. It makes you think about climate catastrophe with its nods to earth, water, wind and fire; but it also makes you marvel at humankind’s sheer imaginative ingenuity’ The Guardian

Image by Darragh McLoughlin