Ever dreamed you were being smothered by a giant marshmallow? Me neither, but this is one of the many thoughts or sensory images that might occur when watching Blaas… Categorised as dance in the Brighton Festival programme, it is a dance of sorts – between an inflated white cube and an audience, initially seated. Director […]

We are at a tribal campfire or perhaps a sweat-lodge. At the centre our Shamans, the Indonesian musicians Senyawa, are building an unearthly soundscape from Rully Shabara’s throat and Wukir Suryadi’s bamboo spear. At a certain moment, when the energy is ready, the eight dancers spark out of the circle like electricity – shaking, whirling, […]

Lisa Wolfe attends Caravan, a biennial showcase that introduces England’s brightest independent theatre artists to festival organisers from around the world.  In his welcoming address to Caravan 2018, Gavin Stride, director of host organisation Farnham Maltings, described the event not as a showcase, but as a conversation between ‘us’ (Caravan self-describes as ‘new English performance’) […]

Here is one of those ideas that seems simple on the surface but which digs deep. Across a map of the world, two men and two women are gently placing split chickpeas in lines, joining points between black pebbles. The lines mark journeys, and notes of some of these journeys are read out at intervals. […]

It’s a Jewish custom to cover mirrors and black out windows for the seven days of mourning following a death. ‘Sitting shiva’ brings people together to sit without thought of themselves; the lack of mirrors denying vanity and bringing the focus inwards. This is the state in which we find bereaved husband Dave and his […]