The Irreducible (Blank Space Productions), at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory

Masterful and highly imaginative comes this trans-formative piece of theatre making.

From the get go, I was intrigued and stimulated.

Entering the theatre space felt like stepping onto the set of a high budget science fiction movie.

Photos by Kate Cameron

It was visually arresting. Eerie, otherworldly music was playing.

Tinged in green was shiny black scaffolding that constituted the super structure that enveloped the stage area.

From it hung tubing, a pulley system, clear and black plastic wrap, ooze pods and a slime bath.

On the floor was what appeared to be a large cocoon that, in time, I learned was named Oozra.

Clearly, a lot of work had gone into the set-up, the likes of which I had never seen before.

The bump-in alone took three days. Talk about dedication to one’s art.

Nestled in amongst the surrounds, I could make out a meditative, masked creature.

Against a powerful, naturalistic score, The Irreducible is, indeed, about transformation – metamorphosis, shedding skin and starting anew.

It is about embracing difference in its various guises – exploring the boundaries of body, identity and the world around us.

It is a work imbued with physicality. It is unsettling, provocative and exhilarating. 

The naked, masked figure with a black spike pointing backwards on one leg, climbs slowly and methodically over, under and between the “apparatus”.

Later, they enter the cocoon and slither across the stage. They give birth to wriggling babies and when they emerge, their mask is gone.

More movement follows, in which they wrap themselves in the tubing around them.

They take on a frightening, black, lobster-like form – another piece of architectural excellence.

They bathe in slime, burying their head in the green goo, breathing through a thin tube.

Throughout, the soundscape transforms from calming to disturbing, ethereal to disruptive.

The performer who makes this happen is award-winning Cohan, a director, dramaturg, intimacy coordinator and creative director of Blank Space Productions.

The team* that has breathed life into these objects around Cohan has done an extraordinary job, as has Cohan themselves.

The 45-minute “experience” that is The Irreducible is a work of creative genius.

Not a word of dialogue is uttered and yet this work spoke to me.

Allow it to open your minds to life and its possibilities too. 

I sincerely hope that this piece tours because it would comfortably slip into any independent theatre space globally.

It is on at Theatre Works’ Explosives Factory until 25^th April, 2026.

* Kat Glass is the creative producer and dramaturg, while Fia Haugh with Di Drew are the composers.

Additional music has been provided by Current Value and Colin Stetson.

Frank Farrugia, Mase Norton and Patch Sinclair are responsible for costume design, and Cohan, Em Jevons, Gina Ramsay and Flo Bracey for set design.

The cool lighting design is the work of Cale Dennis, with Jason Sridher being the lighting technician. Projection design is by Mia Holton.