Impermanence to present Elefantin by Cree Barnett-Williams at The Mount Without

This June, Bristol’s leading contemporary dance company, Impermanence, invites audiences to peel back the pink plastic surface of a cultural icon with Elefantin - a razor-sharp, darkly comic dance-theatre satire by rising star Cree Barnett-Williams.

Running Tuesday 17 - Thursday 19 June at The Mount Without, Elefantin takes a wrecking ball to the glossy legacy of Barbie, who turned 66 this year. With projection, pop culture parody and punchy choreography, the show grapples with impossible beauty standards, the male gaze, and the absurdity of female expectation in a world still clinging to plastic ideals.

Image: Impermanence perform Elefantin

Blending the gloss of music videos with the absurdity of comedy sketch shows, Elefantin is both a hilarious and heartbreaking performance that asks not just who Barbie is, but who she could have been. Set against a backdrop of 1950s Barbie projections and anchored by a pair of haunting white cat-eye sunglasses, the show drags its manicured nails through the contradictions of pop feminism and aggressive sexuality in Western culture.

“Barbie was always everything - model, astronaut, girlfriend, career woman - but what happens when the fantasy crumbles?” says Barnett-Williams. “I wanted to explore the moment when she takes off her heels, sits down, and wonders what she actually wants.”

Barbie stumbles, she screams, she puts on sunglasses without opposable thumbs. She breaks down - and breaks character - as Elefantin exposes the emotional fallout of a life lived under the weight of projection. Through bold design, expressive movement and biting humour, this is Barbie as you've never seen her: fallible, furious, and desperately human.

“Cree’s work is astonishing, emotionally raw, visually bold and thematically daring,” says Joshua Ben-Tovim, Co-Director of Impermanence. “Elefantin is a vital feminist work that manages to be both devastating and deliciously fun. It’s one of the most original pieces of dance-theatre we’ve ever hosted.”

Co-Director Roseanna Anderson adds: “The Mount Without is the perfect venue for a show like this as it’s so intimate, surreal, and immersive. ELEFANTIN is Barbie’s reckoning and audiences should prepare for a wild ride.”

Following a dynamic start to the season with Crashout, After All, and Songs of the Bulbul, Elefantin continues Impermanence’s bold Spring/Summer 2025 programme. The season will conclude with Hope Hunt and the Ascension into Lazarus by Oona Doherty - running Wednesday 9 - Thursday 10 July - an award-winning, dance theatre piece exploring masculinity, morality and nostalgia through powerful character transformations.

Tickets for Elefantin are available now via Headfirst: https://www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/checkout/elefantin. 

More information about Impermanence’s upcoming shows can be found here: www.impermanence.co.uk/whats-on.