Charlotte Emerton-Rolfe

Feeling/Thinking/Being Sluggish
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“Feeling/Thinking/Being Sluggish” was a performance of two parts, each roughly five minutes in length, and taking place in two different locations. The performance was part of the Kaos exhibition on Tuesday 19th November 2024. It was influenced by Abi Palmer’s book, Slugs: A Manifesto, and exhibition, Slime Mother.

Greg and Frank discuss their feelings on having children (called neonates for slugs, neo-nuggets for Greg). Minghella Studios, November 2024.
Frank and Greg exchange a glance. University of Reading School of Art, November 2024.

Photos courtesy of Samantha Chang.


An entirely collaborative piece with Josephine Maxwell, “Feeling/Thinking/Being Sluggish” follows two slugs (Frank and Greg) in a conversation. Their conversation contemplates family, productivity and relationships (romantic, platonic, interspecies and with the Earth); applying crip, queer and feminist theory through the lens of veganism, sustainability and anti-capitalism. The performance interrogates the hilarity, and at times nonsensical nature, of human’s tendency to anthropomorphise other species in order to feel empathy.

This performance was unscripted besides the key topics that we had chosen during our previous discussions in the planning stage, as well as our general aim of being “profound yet silly.”  Frank is played by Charlotte Emerton-Rolfe and Greg is played by Josephine Maxwell.



Part One


Location: Minghella Studios, University of Reading.
Duration of Performance: Roughly five minutes.
Transcript of Part One


Set underground, in amongst the soil, we meet Frank and Greg. They are two slugs going about their day, chatting with one another, catching up on life and love during the Anthropocene.


1/4. Greg and Frank enter from downstage right. The two slugs are complaining about William the worm taking "their spot."
2/4. Greg contemplating. 
3/4. Getting philosophical: Greg and Frank talk about their environmental impact.
4/4. Their next meal is at the Art Department and they hope to see you there!
Photos courtesy of Samantha Chang, November 2024. Please click through.



Part Two


Location: University of Reading, School of Art.
Duration of Performance: Roughly five minutes.
Transcript of Part Two

Venturing above ground, and into the hostile, built-by-humans environment in search of food, the audience witnesses Greg and Frank’s humble endeavour to eat prove (almost) fatal.

1/6. Greg joyfully eats a slug pellet.
2/6. “I don’t feel so good.” Greg feels the consequences of eating the poisonous pellet.
3/6. Frank makes their escape.
4/6. “They want us dead.” Greg and Frank have salt poured onto their bodies. 
5/6. Escape plan 2.0: after being salted Frank and Greg make a break for it.
6/6. Frank and Greg escape the way they entered. 
Photos courtesy of Samantha Chang, November 2024. Please click through.



Performance Re-enactment

Recorded March 2025; Final Edited Version Released April 2025.
Total Duration: 19 mins 4 seconds, or 11 minutes 17 seconds.
There are two edited videos of the performance re-enactment: one that has minimal omissions and lasts 18 minutes 22 seconds (excluding credits); and the other, which is less meandering, lasts 10 minutes 34 seconds. They are embedded below in this order.





❤ Acknowledgments ❤ 


In no particular order, thank you to:

Si Horner, Samantha Chang, Sophie Squires, Andreea Ene, Karen Kramer, Dave Marron, Susanne Clausen, Helena Gardner, Abigail Tovar, Chris O’Shea, Cherry Dodd, Lara Beasley, and Sofia Pantsjoha.