PUSH begins in darkness, with a single light catching the topmost branches of a live tree. The voice of Patrick Wall questioning the nature of pain is heard through the darkness. A huge video projection of the head and shoulders Cathrin Long recounting intimate details of her experience of living with chronic pain appears intermittently to one side of the space as a hooded figure is seen to shuffle around in the darkness.
A complex layering of fiction and reality is set up as performer Matthew Bowyer enters to present a slide talk on his experiences as a mountaineer. A dialogue evolves between the metaphorical figure of pain, the mountaineer, the very real presence of Cathrin on video, the projected face of Charles Pither speaking as a medical professional, and the disembodied voice of Patrick Wall. Images of mountains and gardens are used as metaphors to suggest the physicality of the pain experience. Words are projected as images and linked with broken audio clips to represent some of the social effects of chronic pain. The dialogue between fiction and reality is resolved at the end of the piece as we see that the hooded figure is, in fact, played by Cathrin whose reality we see documented on video.
