Director/actor Jeremy Xido created a sophisticated layering of scientific theory with raw human frailty. The brilliant performances by Xido and Jim Barnard invited the audience literally and symbolically into a world unfolding of physical, dramatic, and theoretical discourse surrounding swarm theory. The audience is confronted with the world that can be seen and examined with the world that can only be felt in the human experience.

- Marianne M. Kim, senselabor

eixam is a miniature conference; it is the encounter of two scientists engaged in the study of swarm theory and its practice. Jeremy Xido and Jim Barnard don’t lead the spectators into a theater performance; skillfully and consciously, they seduce them to participate in an experiment. Armed with multicolored balloons, the insectologists set the audience into motion according to a simple algorithm. And without noticing, the spectators are playfully transformed into a swarm and thus become part of the investigation.
the younger of the two scientists looks for his venerated colleague in the desert, where he has disappeared in search of his princess, a rare type of desert locust. in simple, yet spectacular spaces of illusion the two characters play with their subject matter, with veneration, jealousy, suspicion, obsession, their mutual responsibility and treason. like in an algorithmic play, their theory of missing leadership and an independent intelligence of the swarm becomes a real life experience in their relation to each other. they have become an object at the mercy of the swarm.
And how one thing after the other, through dialogues and fabulous choreography, simply happens is what makes eixam such a wonderfully buoyant showpiece. less theatre than its mimetic variation, in the twilight zone between science and fraud, towards real life observation in a field of present relationships.

- Hubert Lekpke, Lawine_Torrèn

You drink your beer and wait to be brought into the theater and you are already in the play. After a jovial and engaging preparation or better yet, “schooling” by the performers, you unsuspectingly enter into a dark dance full of suspense and drama, in which the comedic transforms to an almost bitter seriousness which in turn dissolves away again and again. A bemused and fanatical research scientist, withdrawn from the real world, in love with his desert locust, and full of mistrust for his visitor, who at first cannot find his way into this world only to eventually lose himself as well.
For me 70 minutes unlike anything I have ever seen, that pass astonishingly fast, exciting, dark and at the same time light-hearted

- Johann Padutch, City Council, Salzburg

Swarms by Jeremy Xido/cabula 6

Why did we buy that product or followed this special trend – and where are we standing right now? Thinking about swarms and swarming intelligence represents the attempt to interpret the developments in which we are thrown into and at the same time the attempt to find those spots where we are able to determine the direction. Jeremy Xido pleasantly succeeds in nudging those thoughts in “Eixam” and lets us experience a surprising and touching play of thoughts showing the outlines or current state of reliabilty and responsibility.

Jeremy Xido and Jim Barnard are closing in on the phenomenon “Swarms” in a playful, scurrile and extraordinary way: the audience is forming as a swarm when “Eixam” is about to begin and “eyes closed – eyes opened” they find themselves in the middle of the desert night where the study about swarms is becoming the existential question. Two researchers, although conscious of floating with the current, rival in being the first within the current to explore the swarm. Xido´s invitation to close and open our eyes makes the increasing madness while watching locusts obvious. It´s no surprise that in the end they are overwhelmed from the swarm and still don´t have any answers.
In „Eixam“ Jeremy Xido manages to dissolve the question concerning the effect of actions in a  deeply personal as well as in a social way in funny and oppressive images/metaphors. In the end the audience is left alone with their balloons, taking home the question of the effect, in the truest sense of the word.

  Jeremy Xido and Jim Barnard brilliantly succeed to keep the balance between a surprisingly  fascinating dance-piece and theatre: elements from both, dance and language remain differentiated. The dance elements abduct the audience in hidden possible spaces of the story and enable emotional thoughts uncoupled from the speech parts.
The dialogues, reminding us of Beckett, Ionesco or Stoppard, caricature the protagonists world of science and settle the balance toward the dance elements.
The play is elegantly combined and supported by the music from Ignasi Coromina with canny means of guitar elements, sounds and tones for speedy scenes.
Those of you who ask themselves how society creates trendy colours, new trends  or how election results accrue from should absolutely be guided through Xido´s play containing balloons, locusts and sharp-tongued wit. “Eixam” by cabula6 is an unmissable recommendation.

- Karl Zechenter, ARGEkultur Gelände Salzburg