Proteus theatre’s ‘Indestructible’ masterfully explores misogyny, cancel culture and representation in art at The Lowry

This October, the innovative theatrical dramady Indestructible takes over The Lowry for one night only with a bold, razor-sharp interrogation of toxic art world culture and the separation of art from the artist.

Devised by the award-winning Proteus theatre company, Indestructible follows acclaimed performance artist Catherine Shaw, who caused seismic shocks across the industry throughout the 90s with provocative feminist invectives against the established guard. When she reflects on her career through the lens of #MeToo and its piercing revelations about the pervasive ongoing culture in the scene and beyond, she begins to question whether she enabled the systemic misogyny all along.

A pioneering curator enlists her to develop an exhibition of female artists at a major new gallery, but a shocking scandal breaks with Shaw in the eye of a growing storm, forcing her to confront everything she thought she knew about visibility and justice.

Drawing on the seminal work of uncompromising female artists ranging from Lee Miller and the Guerilla Girls to Sinead O’Connor and Taylor Swift, Indestructible poses a series of difficult, timely questions: Can we, and should we, separate the art from the artist? Why is it so often women who are expected to hold the moral space? Why do female artists still face the same challenges? And why are women always the Muse, never the Artist themselves?

Created using a spellbindingly inventive blend of animation and AI-generated projections, Indestructible promises an ambitious, penetrative and surprisingly funny take on the fundamental issues of cancel culture and accountability.

Check out the trailer below.