In the Finale an international cast drawn from the Spill programme present a composite series of highly visceral performances, intense images and salacious living portraits abstracted from Zola’s novel Therese Ranquin. Sheila Ghelani as Therese carefully annunciates her lines as she strokes down her perfect costume: cue T-Rex’s 20th Century Boy, heralding prouder-than-proud naked men parading along a brightly lit corridor. They stride in, as if down a catwalk, and dress behind Therese and her cohorts (sultry, glaring, women in evening dress, silently daring us to meet their smouldering eyes). We walk along that brightly lit corridor to witness a meal, held below a twinkling chandelier. Snatches of conversation about and adultery amidst a banquet of rich fruits and corned beef.
As we move on through a multitude of images – some dim, shady, half lit and barely seen; brazen, illuminated and fleshy-like drugged bees feasting on a nectar of sensation. piling strawberries between her thighs table is full of gleaming red halved pomegranates handsome having his mouth painted with silver leafwet black wig like draped across the face of a fallen man. All the while live music from Swiss electronica band Velma lifts and holds the here. On leaving, each audience member has their hands tenderly bathed in washbowls, then dried. We are cleansed of the scenes seen, and released.