Symoné: ‘Nullspace Motel’

Nullspace Motel blends live art, pole, and dance with philosophical mini-videogames in a fractured road trip through Ish’s memories. Onstage and onscreen intertwine like collage, inviting audiences to question identity, power, memory, and what remains unknowable within ourselves.

The game on screen and the dancers on stage unfold like fragments of the same collage, sometimes overlapping, sometimes drifting apart, building a reflective landscape that resists linear storytelling. What emerges is never the same twice, and never fully knowable.

Audience members take turns to play philosophical mini-videogames that probe identity, memory, power, and the queer gaze – ‘Nullspace Motel’ reimagines virtual and videogame concepts within a live, sensorial environment.

As lines blur between performer and participant, real and unreal, ‘Nullspace Motel’ asks, what does it mean to exist and how much of ourselves remains unknown?

You are also invited to the accompanying interactive installation, ‘Highway to Infinity’ on Thursday 23 October, a philosophical and parallel story to ‘Nullspace Motel’.

‘Nullspace Motel’ is created by Symoné

Lead Collaborator and Sound Designer: Sammy Metcalfe
Co Directed by Reed Rushes
Game Development by Florian Brueckner
Various Art Assets by Roland Lauth
Produced by The Lasso Club
Performers: Li Xu and Yuma Sylla
Photo by Kaleido Shoots

Commissioned by UK Black Pride, Marlborough Productions and Theatre in the Mill for New Queers On The Block, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Cambridge Junction, Collusion & Electric Medway, with support from Arts Council England, South East Dance and Live Art Development Agency.

Special thanks to Screen South, Shoreditch Town Hall and Blast Theory.

What to expect

Nullspace Motel is a 55-minute live performance blending dance, live art, and interactive videogame-style moments. The show combines pole and contemporary dance with non-linear storytelling. Audience members will be invited, at certain moments, to engage by playing short, philosophical mini-games that explore themes of identity, memory, power, and the queer gaze.

There is partial nudity and adult themes. Age guidance is 18+. Seating is fixed, and the venue is accessible to wheelchairs. You may see performers up close during parts of the show and clearer visuals on stage and screen.

Accessibility and inclusion

Captions on films and media included
Wheelchair accessible
Seating available
Free or low cost event

Audience target/s

Everyone, LGBTQIA+ / Queer, Neurodivergent, Black, Asian and ethnically diverse

Audience type / suitability

Adults / 18+ (Contains partial nudity and adult themes)

Organiser

Marlborough Productions and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts