Karla Shacklock: NIPLASH

Part of Tilted Women Festival

Conceived, laboured and birthed by Karla Shacklock

Liberation via Lactivism! Expect to see milk, tears and confetti.

Highly physical and visual, hilariously raw and heartbreakingly real, Niplash blows open the multifaceted world of infant feeding; from the cultural expectations and taboos, to the lack of support and understanding. Through humour, honesty, and vulnerability, Karla opens a space where our stories are given a voice, and we are powerfully reminded that they matter. That we matter. And that art can be both balm and battle cry.

Karla shares her experience of feeding three children and weaves into the show stories and feeding paraphernalia kindly donated by dozens of m/others across the country. Niplash is for the mum who was spat at for bottle feeding her baby in the street, the mum told to put her tits away in a café, the mum scorned for feeding a baby with different skin colour to her own, the mum who only dare pump for her baby with the curtains closed at home. For all the m/others. For all of us.

“Niplash is an urgent, ambitious and deeply necessary work. It gives voice to mothers – a group too often marginalised in public discourse – and does so with a rare blend of raw honesty, creative innovation, and political clarity. This is artistic activism at its most impactful.” – Tim Bell, Senior Producer, Complicité

“Through humour, honesty, and vulnerability, Karla opens a space where our stories are given a voice, and we are powerfully reminded that they matter. That we matter. And that art can be both a balm and a battle cry.” – Lucy Webber, Lactation Consultant and author

Developed on Complicité’s Mudlarks International Residency.

Niplash contains partial nudity and themes of infant feeding experiences

Age guidance: 16+  | Babes in arms welcome

Post Show Party

Previous performances have taught us that by the end of the show some audience members have a desire to let go, to release, to celebrate, and so following tonight’s performance we invite you to join us for a post show party. In each city we visit, we work with local m/other DJs to create a space where we can come together in our Lactivist spirit and have a collective boogie. See you on the dance floor! DJs TBA

Donation Bank 

If you have any unwanted feeding equipment (bottles, pumps, teats, pads, bras etc) that you would like to add to the tapestry of Niplash, then please do bring them along and place them in the donation bank – they may get used directly in a future performance, installation or woven into our huge Lactivist flag that we will be flying proudly around the country. Thank you.

Karla Shacklock Biography

Karla is a Bristol based mother and mover, with a passion for making theatre that is driven by truth and which inspires collective action as a means for change. She works as a performer, choreographer, movement director, lecturer, writer, facilitator and mentor. Karla has been making and touring her own work for two decades now and has collaborated and performed with other artists and companies across Europe. As a Movement Director Karla has created work for dance, opera, circus, large and small scale theatre. Her work and collaborations have been performed at the National Theatre, The Barbican, Southbank Centre, Bristol Old Vic and toured internationally. She has worked as a performer with companies such as Complicité, National Theatre Wales, Mimbre and Fleur Darkin and her Doctoral thesis and research into performance consciousness, authenticity and transformation has been widely published.