What happens when the performers become the exhibit and the audience becomes part of the display? EXHIBIT explores that question through a curious collision of physical theatre, dance and comedy, creating a world in which looking and being looked at are rarely as straightforward as they seem.
Created and performed by Emma J. Hawkins and Leisa Prowd, the work centres on two women who are frequently mistaken for one another. Rather than resisting the assumptions made about them, they lean into the absurdity of being seen, mis-seen and underestimated.
The result is part performance, part living gallery. The performers shift between curator and specimen, observer and observed, while the audience is drawn into the same frame. The boundaries between watching and participating become increasingly blurred.
At the heart of EXHIBIT is a playful interrogation of the conventions by which we decide what is normal, what is worthy of attention and what is better left out of sight. Hawkins and Prowd use physicality and humour to examine the awkwardness of being visible, particularly when the expectations placed upon us do not quite fit.
There is a mischievous quality to the work, but beneath the comedy lies something more considered. Its humour emerges from the uncomfortable spaces between perception and reality, where assumptions can be exposed and the act of looking becomes something worth questioning.
The performers’ greying hair is neither concealed nor apologised for. Instead, age becomes part of the visual and physical language of the work. Vitality here is not dependent on youth, but on experience, curiosity and a willingness to challenge the expectations attached to growing older.
EXHIBIT appears to embrace the strange and the unexpected, while asking its audience to consider their own role in the spectacle. Who gets to look? Who gets looked at? And what happens when the people on display start looking back?
Funny, physical and deliberately unconventional, EXHIBIT promises an encounter that may leave audiences laughing one moment and reconsidering their own assumptions the next.
Emma J. Hawkins is a short-statured performer with a big presence and a career spanning over 20 years across theatre, circus, film, and live performance. She has worked with STC (Volpone), Malthouse Theatre (The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man), Arena Theatre (Big Bad Wolf – national tour), Circus Oz, Weave Movement Theatre, and Essential Theatre (Emilia).
Her award-winning solo shows One More Than One and I Am Not a Unicorn! showcase her playful, politically sharp voice as an independent artist and producer. Emma’s practice blends physical theatre, comedy, and emotional honesty, advocating for better visibility of disability and difference on Australian stages. Selected credits: Emilia (2023), Momentum (2023), Love Never Dies (Green Room nomination).
Leisa Prowd is a Melbourne-based performance artist whose work spans dance theatre, butoh, burlesque, and installation. Her practice centres the body as a site of memory and transformation, blending movement, voice, costuming, and sculptural forms. She has performed with Rawcus, Compagnie DK-BEL (France), Unusual Symptoms/Hódworks (Germany), and Weave Movement Theatre.
Leisa’s performances are known for their striking physicality, emotional precision, and deep exploration of presence and visibility. Selected credits: C’est Beau (2023–24), I Am (Not) This Body – Arts House (2023), Harmonia (2022–present), Simulcast – Dance Massive (2019).
Creators and Performers: Emma J. Hawkins & Leisa Prowd | Directorial Eye: Susie Dee | Sound Designer: Dan West | Movement Consultant: Kyall Shanks | Lighting Design: Richard Vabre
EXHIBIT
La Mama Courthouse, 349 Drummond Street, Carlton
Season: 1 – 4 October 2026 (preview: 30 September)
Information and Bookings: www.lamama.com.au
Image: Leisa Prowd and Emma J. Hawkins – photo by Darren Gill