Ariana Reines and Jim Fletcher with Edley ODowd. Performance
MORTAL KOMBAT is inspired by a diverse range of movement styles, including Kathakali, krumping, and kung fu, as well as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Scorpion, the undead ninja from the beloved 1992 video game for which the event is named. Drawn from the stock motions and precise, unflinching attacks of the early nineties arcade game, MORTAL KOMBAT presents a mismatched physical confrontation between poet and artist Ariana Reines and actor and writer Jim Fletcher, accompanied by Edley ODowd. Born on the same day, October 24, in different years, Reines and Fletcher will undertake this game as ersatz twins-but, as in the case of Romulus and Remus among so many other sets of brothers, theirs is also a fight to the death. Edley ODowd, who also shares the same birthday, joins Reines and Fletcher to provide a sonic element to the performance. MORTAL KOMBAT was developed through a commission to Ariana Reines from Le Mouvement Biel/Bienne in Switzerland and a residency with Jim Fletcher at Gallery TPW in Toronto in 2014. Performance on 16 october at 11.45 pm, free admission is on a first-come, first-served basis until capacity is reached. Seating and standing room is available.