What do you do with difference, in regard to equality? Ignore it, mark it, suppress it or smooth over it?

The Democratic Set is a residency model for creating short films and performances to explore the belief that all people are in principle equal, and should enjoy equal social, political and economic rights and opportunities.

Award-winning Back to Back Theatre brings a visual soapbox to town: a sixteen second timeframe, a grand theme of democracy and equality, and 25 years experience making extraordinary work. Made with local community members, the performances are edited together to create a single tracking shot through a series of identical rooms. Back to Back have taken The Democratic Set to communities around the world – from Bristol to Horsham, Denmark to Castlemaine – bringing to the screen performances that are insightful, funny, hard-hitting and heartfelt – but above all, that are deeply human.

Disturbingly obvious and tantalisingly strange, The Democratic Set is a cavalcade of portrait, soap box and drama. Back to Back‘s residency model creates space for the intuition of collaborating artists and community participants. The structure proposes artistic directions with a focus on collaboration.

“Occasionally it’s like a dream sequence in a David Lynch film, disturbing, unstoppable. Sometimes it reeks of loneliness. But mostly it’s full of laughter and hope, a feeling very much helped by the wide demographic of its contributors.” RealTime Arts

“Watching it… with an audience principally made up of the film’s participants is particularly rewarding, hearing their whoops of recognition, because more than anything else this film isn’t a monument to the producer or director – it’s really about the lives of [it’s] inhabitants and the unique document they’ve created together.” RealTime Arts

“If Back to Back Theatre did not exist, it’s doubtful anyone would have the imagination to invent its unrivalled success.” Martin Ball, The Age

Back To Back Theatre