We take our seats in Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre and the lights go down, only for a spotlight to pick out one of the audience seated in the front row. It’s Improbable’s Phelim McDermott (writer/director), and he starts the show in a very informal manner, chatting to his neighbour in the next seat and telling […]
Writings
Philip Glass/Phelim McDermott/Improbable: The Tao of Glass
August 11th, 2019 by Edward TaylorThe Circus Hub: One, Two, Three – Go!
August 10th, 2019 by Dorothy Max PriorContemporary circus, like dance before it, was once perched precariously on the outer edges of the performing arts scene – insiders headed to Circus Space or Circomedia to get their fix; outsiders thought themselves daring for going to see Cirque du Soleil whenever they visited (and every time that company was reviewed in its early […]
Perhaps Contraption: Nearly Human
August 10th, 2019 by Ciaran HammondNearly Human is Perhaps Contraption’s first venture into theatre after having worked for nearly a decade as musicians. In Nearly Human, the band explores the infinite complexity of the universe with various brass instruments, drums, a guitar and a xylophone (used by Catherine Ring to deliver a cracking solo); to question where one thing ends […]
Cut the Cord: I Run
August 10th, 2019 by Ciaran HammondI Run tells the story of a man grieving for his dead daughter, and his discovery of running as a coping mechanism. Standing on a treadmill facing the audience, dressed in running gear, flanked by two fluorescent skylights that cover him in a stark and clinical light, the bereaved father begins to run. A small […]
Daniel Hellmann: Traumboy / Anne Welenc: Traumgirl
August 10th, 2019 by Ciaran HammondTraumboy and Traumgirl have been created in response to one another by Daniel Hellmann and Anne Welenc, and although programmed separately, playing on alternate days in Summerhall’s Old Lab, they are best viewed (and reviewed) with the relationship between them acknowledged. Both pieces present an open and unashamed view into life as a sex worker […]