CELEBRATION

performance for theatres, 55 mins, 2016

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'Let's all celebrate and have a good time’ - Kool and the Gang

 

Amidst global crises and 24-hour rolling news, CELEBRATION was made in response to a provocation: create an hour of joy. Taking the form of a sort-of-variety-show of games, song, dream-like images and clumsy dance, the piece explores joy and optimism as political tools. A blind dog becomes a prophet, Donald Trump is reborn as a deity in drag, and two performers with golden faces sing a folk-dirge to the words of Kool and the Gang. The show is exuberant and melancholy in equal measure, a catalogue of the hopes and fears of youth.

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"A small but glorious remedy for despair... a touching and thought-provoking theatrical gift." - The Stage

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“A unique and mesmerising cocktail of stand-up, dance, poetry and song" - The Sunday Times

 

CELEBRATION was developed with support from the Institute of Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL)

 

Created and performed by Clara Potter-Sweet and Ben Kulvichit

Lighting design and technical management Ciara Shrager

Original song Nat Norland

'All Downhill from Here' choreographed by Elisabeth Stowell

Producer Emily Davis

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Photos Aenne Pallasca, Richard Lakos, Giulia Delprato, Ang Kia Yee

 

Previous dates:

1 July 2018 / LyricFest, Lyric Hammersmith, London

5 November 2017 / Emerge Festival, Warwick Arts Centre

3-5 September 2017 / New Diorama, London

15-28 August 2017 / ZOO Venues, Edinburgh
23-24 July 2017 / Theatr Clwyd, Mold

23 June 2017 / Warwick Fringe, Warwick Arts Centre
11 June 2017 / Incoming Festival, New Diorama, London

10 April 2017 / National Student Drama Festival, Donald Roy Theatre, University of Hull

2-3 December 2016 / Warwick University

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