Inspired by the self-aggrandising of boxers at a pre-fight weigh in, Slap Talk is a linguistic version of the fight itself and a reflection upon violence present in everyday language.

Intimate, unsettling and bitingly humorous, this durational work sees Gemma Paintin and James Stenhouse address each other, and the audience, via a live feed from a camera to a monitor. The relentless bombardment of violence portrayed by the media is interrogated and escalated as the performers rant, insult and threaten each other in a cross between a political debate and a 24-hour news channel.

Over six hours, an autocue scrolls a continuous barrage drawn from daily life: a couple bickering, the hard sell of a shopping channel, the anger of the fire-and-brimstone preacher. As the rapidfire slanging match accelerates and exhausts, the combatants veer off-script and words are emptied of meaning, Action Hero invite us to step out of the ring and contemplate our own collusion in language-as-violence.