In Jonathan Raban's Soft City, the city is called soft because it 'awaits the imprint of an identity'. Naked city is a continuation of that idea where the city is a creature hidden under infinite layers of contradictory yet coexisting ideas. The existence of a ‘true identity’ under all those layers, a face under the masks, is eventually in question. This is a contemplative physical theatre piece that poses questions regarding the urban environment and the normalized behaviors of individuals within it. Not an ode nor a critique to the hyperreality that characterizes the urban lifestyle and philosophy, but a playful thought experiment that tries to pin down what it is that the urban lifestyle and philosophy are chasing after. Authenticity is the subject on trial. What does the individual look like when no longer covered by the blanket of collectively defined urban protocols? Does the city impose a set of rules to its inhabitants like a higher being with a life of its own? Or do its inhabitants get to define the codes of conduct of the urban environment? Is the city the map or the territory? Is the city a mirror, a simulation of itself, the Ouroboros eating its own tail, and all its inhabitants in the act?


Key Themes: Physical Theatre, Confessionary, Urban, Contemplative, Hyperreality