OBSERVER: The Forest – Lucy Guerin Inc.
The Forest by Lucy Guerin Inc. will be presented by Rising with University of Melbourne Arts and Culture from June 4 – 7 at the Union Theatre, University of Melbourne, Carlton.
The new dance work reflects the many identities that forests hold in the human imagination.
Our deep connection to trees has existed throughout history, alongside the symbolism of the forest as a vast, unknown labyrinth, populated with unsettling encounters with the non-human.
The Forest aims to lead us deeper into the thicket of the human subconscious, where myths, folk tales and eco-horror manifest.
Choreographer Lucy Guerin says: “In making The Forest I have drawn on my experiences as a child growing up in the mallee woodlands of Eyre Peninsula.
“This natural landscape, combined with bedtime stories of dark folktales of European forests, caused me to reflect on their natural beauty and forms, and their place in the human imagination as labyrinthine dwelling places of otherworldly beings.
“The choreography is informed by the dividing and branching design of trees, but I also explore a more literal theatrical world inhabited by beings from the ancient and modern world.”
Performance Season: June 4-7
Venue: Union Theatre, University of Melbourne.
Bookings: 2026.rising.melbourne/program/the-forest
Cheryl Threadgold
Pictured: The Forest – Lucy Guerin Inc. Photo: Gianna Rizzo

