You may not recognise the word but you will know the behaviour. Phubbing, currently under consideration for the Collins dictionary, is “to interact with a mobile phone in preference to people in a social setting”. Part of Taiwan Season at the fringe, Seed Dance Company’s arresting production begins with the familiar image of a figure hunched, barely seeming to breathe, lost in the glow of a smartphone.
Other dancers circulate, drawn to the screen like moths to a flame or performers seeking the spotlight, and there is a sequence seemingly evoking the desperate search for a signal. One of the four lies on the ground, their body sporadically jolting upwards with each hit of dopamine – or is it something more sinister? – from social media.
The prop phones they wield, almost like extensions of their arms, are tricked out with dazzling lights, which accentuate a greyscale costume design for what at times resembles a quartet of zombies. After focusing on solo behaviour, Wen-Jen Huang’s choreography, which she performs with Pin-Ho Wang, Tzu-Yin Chen and Kapitjuan Kadrangian, pans out to explore group dynamics. Acts of competition and collaboration add a sweep and flow absent from those hunched doom-scrollers.
Wearing and sometimes sharing the same super-elasticated shirts, the performers increasingly cover their faces with the material. Veering from eerily concealed identities to oversharing, dancers become zany wink emojis and heart reactions, yet spiral or slump to the ground as if low on battery. One disappears into themselves, withdrawing from the stage almost without being noticed.
Studies have suggested that excessive smartphone use increases loneliness, but the piece does not convey how people across the generations are now better connected than ever before. There are four strong performances and some cool effects, played out against Enoch Chen’s often clubby beats, yet even at 40 minutes the piece feels overstretched by the ending. These horrors are all too familiar. Lighting up our phones, we trundle out of the theatre.
• At Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 25 August
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