Two performers, three robotic trap machines, a collection of custom-made percussion instruments and a storm of flying clay – Pigeons is the most theatrical work percussionist Eugene Ughetti has ever created, and one of his most ambitious.

Taking the stage in June as part of Melbourne’s RISING festival, Speak Percussion’s Pigeons has been years in the making. It was born from Ughetti’s desire to make a “muscular, physical” work after a string of pieces based on smaller, finer movements, like Polar Force in 2019.

Percussionists and Co-Artistic Directors of Speak Percussion, Kaylie Melville and Eugene Ughetti, rehearse the new work Pigeons. Photo © Jeff Busby

“I also had this kind of spectacular image in mind of a kinetic, visually arresting stage and that was motivated by seeing a trap machine do its thing. It was just that crazy question – could I bring a trap machine on stage and turn it into a musical instrument, and what would happen if I did?” he says.

There’s an elegance and chaos at the heart of Pigeons. Ughetti and Kaylie Melville, who are Co-Artistic Directors of Speak Percussion, both play instruments in the piece, ducking and weaving as fluorescent...