The beady eyes of hundreds of soft toys confront the audience. The performers have different attitudes to the toys under their feet. Some tread over them while others step through them with care.
The performers never make eye contact. They fail to recognise faces and expressions. They prefer to talk to or through the soft toys. One man dressed inexplicably in a smoking jacket, has behavioural traits that cast doubt on his humanity. He is extraordinarily obedient and is so devastated by anyone leaving the stage and so excited at their return that he knocks them down in an embrace and effusive greeting. It is never confirmed but he has characteristics reminiscent of a dog. Another performer is hardly seen; she hides behind furniture and animates the toys like a puppeteer. When she finally emerges, the sight of her is abhorrent to the others. The performers are thinking objects rather than subjects; they are alien. The show makes an issue of anthropomorphic projection, consciousness and empathy.
National Review of Live Art, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow; Green Rooms, Manchester; Powerhouse, Trent Polytechnic, Nottingham; Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff; Leadmill, Sheffield; Ashcroft Centre, Fareham & Gosport
British Art Show 1990, McLellan Galleries, Glasgow; Leeds City Art Gallery, Leeds; Purcell Room, Hayward Gallery, London
