LAND, LABOR,
AND THE BODY

Luke Murphy’s dance-theatre work turns
ownership into something visceral and urgent

Ryan O’Neil standing on the desk; from left to right: Luke Murphy, Sarah Dowling, Will Thompson, Tyler Carney-Faleatua

St. Ann’s Warehouse unveils Scorched Earth, a striking dance-theatre work from Attic Projects, written, directed, and choreographed by the singularly inventive Luke Murphy. From the team behind Volcano, a dance I reviewed three years ago and will never forget, this new production deepens its focus even more on acting, blending it with movement, sound, and visual design into a tightly charged piece.

Luke Murphy (on the floor), Tyler Carney-Faleatua (white top), Ryan O’Neil (at the desk), Sarah Dowling (on the floor)

The story deals with land property, an ancient universal issue, and Murphy poses questions: What right do we have to the land beneath our feet? Who really owns the land—the people who worked it for years or the people who have their names on the deed? And what are we prepared to do to defend it? Drawing on John B. Keane’s The Field, the plot centers on a detective reopening a twelve-year-old unsolved murder, and as the investigation deepens, we revisit the facts, the obsessions, and realities of a past where the emotional value of the soil clashes with its market value.

Will Thompson

Ownership of land carries profound symbolic weight, particularly among rural communities where it can define identity and belonging. If you work a field year after year, pull all the stones from its soil, and then give life to stubborn ground, you leave a part of you embedded in it. And when that land is sold off for profit by someone removed from that labor, it feels like an erasure, the undoing of one’s own history. Murphy puts all those feelings into movement.

Luke Murphy

The main character, John McKay, is a farmer who is suspected of the murder they are reinvestigating. When it happened, he was renting and farming a field, and he tells the detective: “It was a waste when I found it. Waste and wasted. Full of gorse and half stone… the incline was too steep, the growth too far gone. But I could see it, what it could be.” Will Thompson plays the “controversial developer” William Dean, who bought the field at an auction. He is the young, oblivious victim, and Thompson is an extraordinary dancer whose fluidity and bravura will truly astonish you. Sarah Dowling, an Irish-born actress, dancer, and director, is the serious, convincing Detective Kerr; while Tyler Carney-Faleatua and Ryan O’Neil alternate in different roles. Carney-Faleatua is an Australian dance artist, co-director of Threading Frames, and O’Neil is a professional contemporary dancer from Northern Ireland, both standout performers.

Luke Murphy and Tyler Carney-Faleatua (in grass costume)

The relationship between John the farmer (the suspect) and Will the new owner (the victim) unfolds through a series of charged physical exchanges, thick with guilt and raw, unspoken truth. In their duets, Murphy and Thompson craft a unique physical harmony; their bodies fold into one another through weight-sharing, off-center suspensions, and coiled lifts, always oscillating between control and surrender. Sometimes, they appear to operate as a single organism, because phrases initiated in one body ripple seamlessly into the other before fragmenting into disjointed phrases that expose the underlying conflict. Sometimes, Thompson moves like he is literally hovering a foot off the stage, weightless.

Luke Murphy and Sarah Dowling

The relationship between farmer and soil is instead personal and complicated: some seasons it feels like a generous partner, others like an enemy. It is a year-long fight, with reconciliation at the harvest, and then the same cycle begins again. Still, neither lets go, but after eight years spent slaving on that land, the farmer loses the field at the auction, and the end of the intense relationship feels near. Murphy as the farmer and Carney-Faleatua as the Grass Body turn that tension into a series of poetic, passionate duets.

Will Thompson on the plinth; from left to right: Sarah Dowling, Luke Murphy, Ryan O’Neil, Tyler Carney-Faleatua

There are many memorable moments: a hilarious and technically perfect line dance, with plenty of heel digs, grapevines, and shuffles, at a Western-themed church party; a fast-paced auction with dramatic bidding increments; a heart-wrenching solo by Murphy when he commits murder; and a very evocative finale. As the set is taken apart by the ensemble, it gives way to a steep hill that appears impossible to scale and even harder to hold onto.

Luke Murphy

Before that moment, the stage is contained within a highly stylized box set: three imposing grey walls forming a trapezoid. Designed by Alyson Cummins, the steeply raked side walls create a deep, claustrophobic perspective that evokes a bunker. A large rectangular indoor window punctures the back wall, doubling as a screen. The furniture is sparse and functional, reinforcing the minimalist aesthetic, while the costumes carry a documentary-like realism, stylish yet low-profile, allowing the dancers’ movement to remain central, all thoughtfully assembled by Cummins.

Will Thompson and Tyler Carney-Faleatua

The grass suits steal the show, a witty, tactile transformation that makes the dancers look like patches of land come to life. The donkey is also intriguing, although you need to know the reference to The Field to make the connection. Lighting by Stephen Dodd forms a cold, detached atmosphere during the interrogations, reinforced by a fluorescent-style fixture, but it’s sharply contrasted by the projections that create psychological tension; the warm tones of the pub; and the expressionistic stylized fight. The immersive score by Rob Moloney, alongside audio-visual work by Patricio Cassinoni, adds a visceral and finely shaped experience throughout. Aside from a slower passage just before the finale, it keeps you firmly on the edge of your seat.

Luke Murphy standing, Will Thompson on the floor

Co-produced by Galway International Arts Festival, Dublin Dance Festival, and Attic Projects, Scorched Earth carries the unmistakable signature of a world-class dance company, where technical excellence meets choreographic intelligence. The work moves with confidence and control, balancing striking imagery with disciplined performance, and revealing a company operating at the peak of dance-theatre.

Facing front: Luke Murphy and Sarah Dowling; facing back: Ryan O’Neil and Will Thompson

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photos by Teddy Wolff

Scorched Earth
Attic Projects
with Dublin Dance Festival/Galway International Arts Festival
St. Ann’s Warehouse, 45 Water Street in Brooklyn
ends on April 19, 2026
for tickets, visit St Ann’s

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