A narcoleptic Man and Woman are strapped together on a chair. The floor is a grid of trap doors. Above them, the Writer clacks away on his typewriter, translating their movements into words. His entries fly to the underworld where the Magus dwells. She bends letters into life and spits them through the traps doors as onions or cleavers. The Man and Woman can carve and cry, but they cannot exit the Onion labyrinth.

 

"Onion is a half trembling, half laughing affirmation of self, embracing history and mortality.
In this existential landscape, the dancers, with an exacting and flawless technique, effectively limn ineffable states of consciousness with precise gestures and flashes of genuine humor that catch one completely off guard.
Onion combines various performance techniques, including Butoh and improvisation, in a deceptively simple, thematically rich narrative advanced largely through movement and the lush ambient score. A vivid yet nearly wordless work of unusual subtlety and force."

~Robert Avila, SF Bay Guardian, Jan 1 2003