Children seem older than their years and adults appear as petty as children in Übung, an eerie cross-disciplinary performance from Victoria.

A screen plays a silent black and white projection of a dinner party, which begins to degenerate into arguments and accusations as the alcohol begins to flow. Yet the unguarded words we hear come not from the mouths of the dinner guests but from a group of children dressed as adults playing at the front of the stage. Imitating the gestures and parroting the conversation of their supposed betters and elders on screen, the words and anger gain a newly unsettling tone when spoken in such apparently innocent voices. Taking a sly shot at the notion that children should be seen and not heard, Übung – which means ‘practice’ in German – also asks whether children can grow up too fast, alongside ruthlessly stripping away adult pretension to reveal how ridiculous they can sometimes be.

Part of LIFT’s Landscape of Childhood season along with acrobat, Festen and Old Dog New Trick.