The Arms

Domi has been making extra arms to help people all over the world. She’s become a local hero, and everyone is calling her the “eight- armed woman” But Sora, Domi’s next door neighbour is suspicious and starts spying on Domi, determined to prove that she’s a threat to their community.

Sora makes assumptions about how and why she has obtained all these extra limbs. A feud starts between the two women that takes numerous alarming twists.

After a premiere at Brighton Fringe Festival and subsequent performances at The Lion and Unicorn and The Space Theatre, ‘The Arms’ arrived at the Alma Tavern and Theatre in Bristol with huge expectation. Shortlisted for Brighton Fringe’s Best New Show award, the play has opened to sold out shows and five-star reviews.

Highly relevant and personal, yet bizarre and abstract, this surreal show about coexistence and the opposing viewpoints of two women frighteningly exposed as they double down on their incompatible approaches to doing good for their community.

Domi (Rosalind Jackson Roe) has lived for 25 years with only two arms. Now, everything around her is dying. Not just the angry, the poor and the sad, but the trees, the whales, and the pigs, too. So, she decides to use her mother’s inheritance to create six more arms. Sora, who is grieving the loss of her husband, thinks her neighbour is going too far, too fast.

A woman with a mission, to reach out and aid the world, to feed the hungry and to save the polar bears, the only way she can conceive meeting her intentions is to grow longer arms. She tries but struggles until she discovers the formula for making more limbs. This she explains to us in a beautifully absurd instructional sequence.

The play escalates and takes many unexpected twists, some genuinely horrific. Domi falsely tells anyone who will listen that Sora murdered her husband. Sora spreads rumours, denouncing Domi to the police as an arms thief. Subsequent events feature, variously, severed limbs, clandestine surveillance through holes poked in walls, lizards in fishing nets, allegations of cannibalism, and more.

Korean surrealist theatre-maker Moon Kim’s modern Gothic fairy tale is a comedy laced with horror and sprinkled with dystopia but impresses with its visual panache and sophisticated physical theatre.

Moon Kim studied Theatre and Contemporary Dance at Kyeongsung University (BA) in Korea before training at East 15 Acting School (Acting MFA). Her creative endeavours focus on blending different art forms and experimenting with unconventional approaches and are characterised by their eccentric and dream-like qualities. Moon Kim is the founder of Moon Kim Theatre Company who are previously known for successful surrealist pieces The Waiting Room (2024) and Emma or Emily (2023).

An austere and paired back set and costume design, made by Elaina Fielding and Vyshnavi Krishnan from recycled materials, help to frame the tense relationship of the two leads. A net on the back wall captures two large, distorted geckos, created by sculptor Fielding. Their long pronged spiky fingers reflect the gnarly arms that litter the stage.

The director saw Elaina Fielding’s sculptures, inspired by forks, and immediately perceived arms. It is here that the origins of the piece were born so it is fitting that they are now pivotal to the story and the stagiing. 

Besides the props, that breathe life and meaning into the heart and soul of the show, other visual elements such as costume design blend excellently with the rest of Moon’s vision, using cohesive colour palettes to instantly highlight the similarities and differences between the two leads.

Kim’s combination of highly stylised movement, dance and physical theatre, superb work by composer Ábel MGE with a haunting soundtrack, and metaphor-laden visual design hints at traditional Korean dramatic aesthetics.

A memorable moment from the show are the several movement sequences, quirkily choreographed by the directorial team Moon Kim and Tess Murison. These movement sequences articulate moments when the two neighbours start spying on each other and occur in sync, using catchy and repetitive bodily movements creating an edgy and experimental moment.

Carolina Emidio (Sora) and Rosalind Jackson Roe (Domi) bring added depth and meaning to the way their characters begin to deteriorate and spiral out of the control. Both give exceptionally bold and skilful performances that bring their complex characters to life. It keeps us guessing and we are bewitched by its many layers.

There are some fine moments, high and wild and marvellously ridiculous, and real comedy gold every time. Amidst fighting and screaming, there is some great dark and physical comedy,

Writer and director Moon Kim is an extraordinary talent who has assembled a highly skilful creative team to realise her vision. “The Arms” is an experimental new piece of relevant surrealist theatre packed with clever attention to detail: daring, highly innovative, and beautifully constructed.