Anito – Q Theatre, 12 February 2026: Review

Anito is a stunning sensurround experience of life inhabiting myriad forms which dissolves boundaries both animate and inanimate.

Without realising it we are in the performance the moment we enter the theatre. I am in a front seat and there is a mass of shapes which look like exotic jungle undergrowth, with the lighting dimmed. It covers at least half of the wide stage.

There is a sense of some minimal movement from the mass, and if you stare long enough you get the sense of small faces appearing and minimal movement.

The sounds of the forest or jungle with chirping insects which slowly increase in volume, along with a chorus of birds, water flowing, wind rustling trees.

Smoke appears next. Rising slowly from centre stage which gradually rises skyward (or so it appears). Beams of light now invest the stage, as if an invisible spaceship is hovering above.

There is a human shape in that mass on the floor! Arms and legs appear and he appears to be massive. Slowly he stands and from the vegetative elements around him he takes the shape of a prehistoric being.

Another shape forms alongside him and a second being with limbs does arise. The sound has become huge with rumbles and rolling thunder.

The two shapes dance around each other and feed on the plant matter around them. A lot of it looks visceral like integument and intestines.

At one point they merge and become a four-legged beast.

We go to a quiet period where all sound and light vanish. Everything is dark.

What look like fungi and discrete plant matter come to life. There are maybe four people crawling around in there. Shapes become thick and bulbous. One of these animate beings doubles in size, and we glimpse a heavily decorated human face at the top.

The main conspirator behind this amazing production is Justin Talplacido Shoulder. Filipino by birth and he is a founding member of a Queer Collective of artists based in Sydney (the Glitter Militia).

Fellow performers and co-conspirators on stage tonight are Wikitoria Hunt and Eugene Choi. It seems like there must be mor but some of the effects tonight use puppetry.

I am reminded of the opening sequence of the Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, where the monkeys develop the revelation of violence.

There is violence here too, and the first sequence is both grisly and majestically serene. This is not a horror story, but it relates to more ancient and visceral forces of nature.

It moves slowly but also seems to cover aeons of time. I relate it to the Aboriginal concept of time, where the past and future stretch out equidistantly, and are always co-existing with the apex sitting in Present Time.

Integral to this whole theatrical experience is the innovative use of lighting from Fausto Brusamolino. The dark is almost as moving and emotional as the unfolding of vision.

A live score from Corin Ileto merges animal and forest sounds with the wild forces of nature.

The beings and creatures arise from the plant life adorning the stage. They are soft and pliable as I touch some of it at the end of the show. Designed by Matthew Stegh, Anthony Aitch and Shoulder himself.

Anito refers to the Filipino idea of ancestor spirits merging with animate and inanimate. A hallucinatory experience which breaches the boundaries of linear time and ultimately achieves this in majestic fashion.

Rev. Orange Peel

Anito is part of Pride Month and plays at Q Theatre until 14 February 2026. Tickets available here.