Oliver Bennet: What We May Also Do at Verdurin

Verdurin is delighted to present What We May Also Do, a new play by Oliver Bennett which responds to Anna Sebastian’s exhibition and with which it shares its title.

A woman approaches the gate of a walled city. Her admission depends on the depth of her moral liberation and embrace of boundless self-determination. A border guard assesses her character for its fit with the city’s society. In a series of interrogations, a charged relationship develops between the supplicant and her assessor. The process ultimately tests their belief in the system. 

Bennett’s play develops a theatrical language that responds to Sebastian’s work and engages with the psychoanalytic ‘Gloria’ films which also inspire the paintings. It challenges contemporary attitudes to sex, religion, and power by exposing liberal values upheld by flawed individuals.