Dearest, Darling, Honey, Pet.

A dance-theatre work, in development, created and directed by Miranda Manasiadis, and created and performed by Claire Martin and Jeremy Randerson. Produced by Andrew Laking.

Music and sound direction by the remarkable Luke Buda, and lighting by the extremely talented Elekis Poblete Tierney.

Trapped by circumstance, trapped within the confines of their traditional gender stereotypes, and trapped by what they’ve been molded into becoming, the characters navigate through a territory where none of their old assumptions or methods work any longer.

The characters have reached a point in their lives where the tricks and devices they'd always employed to win them favour and attention, to seduce or to dominate, now seem redundant, ridiculous, grotesque and demeaning. Where once they wholeheartedly leaned into their youth and litheness, they now must find new ways of existing within their own skins and along side each other.

The invisibility and inequalities of the woman’s life, the expectations and ineptitude of the man’s, the withering of potential, and the misplacement of self - this is the terrain that ‘Dearest, Darling, Honey, Pet’ inhabits.

Though the subject matter is not a trivial one, the style in which it is presented is cheeky, unorthodox and humorous. ‘Dearest, Darling, Honey, Pet’ does not aim to establish or suggest a new way of being once the pretty trimmings have dropped off, but rather invite the audience into considering what that looks like for themselves. Raw and uncharted and beguiling.

Special thanks to support from Lōemis festival and Deirde Tarrant (Tarrant Studios, Wellington).