The Dramaturgy Cat: LaPelle’s Factory @ Edfringe 2017

LaPelle's Factory in association with LittleMighty and In Good Company present:

The Black Cat

WORLD PREMIERE

Twisted and dark Poe classic pulled to pieces in this provocative and playful adaptation 

Written by Mufaro Makubika 

Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe

Underbelly, Cowgate, 3 – 20 Aug 2017 (not 13) 19.20 (20.20)

Nottingham-based company LaPelle’s Factory present a modern, deconstructed and misbehaving retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Black Cat at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August.

Photography by Julian Hughes

Balanced between the hilarious and the horrific, two performers dismember the process of adapting a classic with violent glee, just as the narrator of this Poe short story turns violently on his beloved pet cat. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

We were initially inspired by the desire to collaborate with a writer for the first time and see whether our hands-on, collaborative, devised approach to making performance could merge with that of a more 'traditional' playwright.

We became interested in adaptation as a vehicle for this because it's a form that (often) begins on the page and then goes through a process of 'daisy-chaining' ideas and forms – so in our case we began with Edgar Allan

Photography by Julian Hughes

Poe's short story written in the first-person, to Mufaro Makubika's modernised two-hander play that updates the themes and makes changes to the plot, to us (Olwen and Ollie of LaPelle's Factory) where we pull both texts apart and comment on them whilst simultaneously 'acting' them.  

We also allow aspects of our real personalities to seep into the characters to the division between performer and character becomes much more difficult to distinguish.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

Regardless of how much technology advances, there is no substitute for being in the same room as a performer or group of performers.  Watching artists perform live, making eye contact, joining in on occasion, cannot be replicated; the immediacy of human connection is still very necessary for discussion and discourse.  It's the same with watching a band: there's a reason we pay to see them play familiar music in our presence rather than just putting the album on at home again.

How did you become interested in making performance?

We both did fairly experimental degrees

Photography by Julian Hughes

(Olwen at De Montfort University in Leicester; Ollie at Bretton Hall, then part of the University of Leeds) which exposed us to a whole body of theatre and performance beyond traditional plays.  Separately we became excited about the liveness of the event and the connection possible with an audience that contemporary practice champions.  

We became less focussed on work which pretends the audience is not there.  And now we make work which we hope is different and progressive without needing an arts degree to be understood.  We try very hard to make sure our ideas are presented clearly enough that the work can be accessed by anyone, not just those familiar with the form.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

We make devised theatre, so we did lots of background research and had a lot of discussion in advance of developing the piece.  We watched other adaptations of the same text (mainly on film) – and having Mufaro's blessing to do what we wanted with his text was very important.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

This piece started on the page which is unusual for us.  Normally a script or performance score will develop through improvisation and subsequent editing within rehearsal so there is no one 'author'.  

We wanted to challenge ourselves to working with a different (arguably more traditional) restriction and see if we could devise ways to break the rules.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

A fun, funny and slightly dangerous piece that examines the slipperiness of words and what it means to recycle ideas, turning the familiar into something new.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience? 

We knew some audience members would be familiar with Poe and some wouldn't, so we had to devise a strategy that meant this didn't matter.  Both groups will have a different experience but neither is better. It's the same as watching a film: you'll have a different understanding if you read the book first, but it isn't incomprehensible if you didn't.

We also wanted to find a strategy to bring the story alive without going too far down the 'actorly' route.  This has involved using element of ourselves: our personalities and histories.  This, we hope, adds to the 'realness' of what we present; and hopefully the sense of threat and danger too.

Photography by Julian Hughes

We also aren't afraid of being silly.  Often contemporary theatre gets a reputation of being overly serious and intellectual.  We've found ways of countering these presumptions with the dark humour we've woven into the performance.

Poe’s story is closely related to his famous A Tell-tale Heart, concerning the growing insanity of a guilty mind, and touching on alcoholism, mental health and emotional violence. Led by performer-devisers Olwen Davies and Ollie Smith, LaPelle’s Factory’s disrupted retelling revels in the darkness that hides just under the surface of the tale.

With metatheatrical play, The Black Cat is a surprisingly humorous tale which was developed with scratch performances at Derby Theatre, SPRINT (Camden People's Theatre), and First Bite (China Plate/MAC Birmingham).

Olwen said, “We can’t wait for our company to make its first visit to the Fringe. The Black Cat is also our first adaptation, but being us we don’t play it very straight. It’s dark, weird and wonderful, and has a very cheeky glint in its eye. It’s perfect for the murderous backstreets of Edinburgh."

LaPelle's Factory is the creative partnership of Olwen Davies and Ollie Smith. They make playful and provocative contemporary performance that questions expectations, relationships and modern ideals. 

The company is an Associate Artist with Attenborough Arts Centre (Leicester) and In Good Company, based at Derby Theatre. Their first show, CLOUDCUCKOOLANDERS (2015), explored mad couples, personality cults and the changing face of cinema. This was followed Desperado (2016/17), which riffed on rock gigs, dance marathons, school sports days and rodeos to push its performers to physical and existential limits.

Olwen Davies premiered her first solo performance, Fridge Logic, in 2011, at the Circuit Festival and the Hatch:Fresh festival. Olwen has also collaborated with Zoo Indigo in the devising of their performance Blueprint, a cross-generational celebration of motherhood. 

Ollie Smith is a regular devisor and performer with Michael Pinchbeck. Their work together includes Bolero, which toured internationally; and The Trilogy, a body of works exploring contemporary tales on Shakespearian stage. His solo show 27 was an obsessive and drawn-out suicide note from the world's least rock n roll star.

Mufaro Makubika is playwright living in St Ann’s, Nottingham. He is a graduate of the Royal Court Young Writers’ programme, including the super group, and a BBC Writersroom 10 winner. 

Credits include How to Breathe (Nottingham Playhouse) and Hood-The Legend Continues (Theatre Royal Nottingham/New Perspective Theatre). Mufaro is currently under commission to Nottingham Playhouse.

LittleMighty is an independent producer based in Leeds that works nationally with remarkable artists to make brilliant theatre happen.

Their other shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year include Eamonn Fleming’s Confabulation! (Pleasance Courtyard) and Silent Uproar’s A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad). Previous successes include Unfolding Theatre’s Lands of Glass and Putting the Band Back Together (Journal Culture Awards: Best Performance); and Testament’s Blake Remixed (co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse).

In Good Company develop artists, provide opportunities and support exciting new performance in the East Midlands. 

In Good Company was born out a consultation with our community of artists in 2014 and is now a multi-venue partnership made up of: Derby Theatre, Attenborough Arts Centre, Burton Brewhouse, Lincolnshire One Venues and Mansfield Old Library. 

All five partners are dedicated to sharing their resources and providing opportunities for local artists to develop their work, including mentoring, scratch nights, workshops, performance platforms and networking. The programme is supported by Arts Council England. 

@LapellesFactory | /LaPellesFactory | lapellesfactory.com

Running Time: 60 minutes | Suitable for ages 12+

Company Information

Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe Written by Mufaro Makubika
Devised and performed by Olwen Davies and Ollie Smith
Outside eye cast by Kate Chapman Produced by Dick Bonham and Daniel Nicholas

Listings information

Underbelly, 66 Cowgate, Edinburgh, EH1 1JX (Venue 61)

3 – 20 Aug (not 13), 19.20 – 20.20, Previews: 3 – 4 Aug

Previews 3 – 4 Aug: £6.50 

5 – 6, 9 – 10, 14 – 17 Aug: £10 (£9 concs)

7 – 8, 11 – 12, 18 – 20 Aug: £11 (£10 concs) 

underbelly.co.uk | 0333 344 4167

Wheelchair Accessible performance:
Underbelly Med Quad, Teviot Place, EH8 9AG (Venue 302)

13 Aug, 13.15 – 14:15: £10 (£9 concs)

5 Oct Nottingham Playhouse
16 Nov Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester

Further touring dates to be announced 

Ami and Tami and Dramaturgy: Floating Tower @ Edfringe 2017

Ami & Tami

A Musical Fable

Music by Mátti Kovler Book & Lyrics by Mátti Kovler and Aya Lavie Translated by Spencer Garfield Directed by Doug Fitch 

August 11th – 24th

Underbelly Cowgate 

10:30am – 11:35 (1.05hr)

Fantastical Forests! Wicked Witches! An… an Imf? 

Following a sold-out run in New York City, Israeli-American composer Mátti Kovler and his music theatre company Floating Tower bring their reimagined story of Hansel & Gretel – Ami & Tami –

to the Underbelly at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 

Ami and Tami, trapped inside by their overbearing parents, escape their humdrum house to find adventure in the enchanted forest. Their journey sends them into the clutches of the Evil Humm, the lair of Yaga the Witch and the depths of their own imagination. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The inspiration for the performance comes from Floating Tower's cross-cultural mission. Ami and Tami was originally written in 1999 in Jerusalem as an Israeli take on the classic Hansel & Gretel folk tale. The story offers audiences of all ages something familiar, while presenting them with cultural traditions, tropes and musical styles that they may not have heard before, in this case introducing children to operatic music and aspects of Jewish folk music. 

Floating Tower continues to perform Ami and Tami to international audiences in the hope that our work will spark the curiosity of audience members and inspire them to learn more about music. 

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Performance is definitely one of the best spaces for a public discussion of ideas. Floating Tower tries to create work that will foster conversation among audience members. For example, we staged a 15-minute satirical opera,The Drumf and the Rhinegold (guess who that's about), days before the US election. 

We felt it was our small contribution to the discussion around politics at the time, and we hope that it offered audience members a chance to see some of what they were feeling reflected in a performance. I think it gave everyone involved, onstage and off, a sense of catharsis. 

How did you become interested in making performance?

For starters, it's just great fun! We are constantly amazed by the people that we get the opportunity to work with and the audience members we meet. On a more serious note, Floating Tower's mission is to create meaningful experiences through music. We became performers so that we could reach out to people. 

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

The show is driven by it's music. The words, the movements, everything flows with the complex musical accompaniment. Most importantly, all of the participants in this production, actors, composer, children's choir, play musical instruments and help create the atmosphere through sound. 

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Floating Tower has an incredibly diverse range of productions. Ami and Tami reflects our mission statement, and Floating Tower's commitment to musical quality, but we produce shows as diverse as a 15-minute satirical opera about Donald Trump to an orchestral concert piece reflecting on the notion of 'the soul' in 4 languages. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Ami and Tami is surprising, engaging, and just good fun. We want kids to feel like they're on an exciting adventure with Ami and Tami. As the siblings climb through their bedroom window and out into the forest, audience members are right there with them, laughing at the ridiculous Imf, running from the terrifying Ogre, singing along with Yaga the Witch and smiling when it all works out in the end. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

This show has been performed in multiple versions, from performances with a full orchestra to tiny cabaret shows. But with all of those differences, we always approach the show with the same strategies. 

We are here to bring the music and the story to audience members in as full and engaging a way as possible. With the smaller version of the show, this means integrating music into the blocking, with the cast playing their own instruments and a chorus featuring local children. 

Directed by Doug Fitch (New York Philharmonic), the sophisticated musical fairytale features six versatile actors, who all sing and play musical instruments, and a dancing children’s choir. The lively familiar story is replete with new characters and witty unexpected twists that will engage and delight both kids and adults. The performance is headlined by the renowned author Prudence Steiner as Storyteller and Ami and Tami's composer Mátti Kovler performing the actual role of Composer on stage.

Join us for the European premiere at the Underbelly, Cowgate. Beware of the Evil Humm, who chases passersby through the woods, and Yaga the witch, who runs a surprisingly sophisticated restaurant. Follow Ami and Tami as they find their path in the dark forest, and discover how the power of imagination can bring a family together.

“The best day of my life so far”

(Maya Reuven, 8 years’ old)

Listings information

Show:  Ami & Tami

Venue:  Underbelly Cowgate

Dates: August 11 – 24th Time: 10:30am – 11:35am

Tickets: £10.00| Conc £9.00: 

Underbelly Box Office: 03333 444 167

Underbelly Press Office: 0844 545 8242

PMK Link to pictures: https://tinyurl.com/y7lkjr6r

Website: https://www.floatingtower.com/ami-and-tam-edinburgh

NOTES TO EDITORS

ABOUT FLOATING TOWER

Founded in 2011 by composer Mátti Kovler, Floating Tower is a cross-cultural musical theatre company aiming to create high-impact, immersive work that opens up dialogue among audience members of all ages.

AMI & TAMI PRODUCTION TEAM

DOUG FITCH Director

Doug Fitch’s creative life began with his family’s touring puppet theater. While studying visual arts at Harvard, he collaborated with Peter Sellars on Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Fitch directed several projects conducted by Alan Gilbert for the New York Philharmonic, including Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre (cited as the top opera of 2010 by The New York Times, New York Magazine, and Time Out New York), Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen (2011, New York Magazine’s “Best Classical Event of the Year”), A Dancer’s Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky (2013, later screened in movie theaters worldwide); and HK Gruber’s Gloria – A Pig Tale (2014, with forces from The Juilliard School as part of the NY PHIL BIENNAL).  Mr. Fitch was the inaugural WBFO visiting artist at SUNY, where he created an opera of images, How Did We…? He has created productions for Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Santa Fe Opera, and directed projects for Canada’s National Arts Centre, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tanglewood (Elliot Carter’s What Next?,screened at The Museum of Modern Art).

MÁTTI KOVLER Composer; Artistic Director, Floating Tower

Mátti Kovler is an Israeli-American composer and creator of new musical theatre. Described as “a potentially estimable operatic composer in the making,” (New York Times) Kovler’s music has been commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Centre, Carnegie Hall and the Israel Philharmonic. Born in Moscow, Russia, he was raised in Jerusalem, Israel, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He is a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, the foremost training ground for new musical theatre, where the writers of A Chorus Line, and The Book of Mormon, among others, learned their craft. 

ERIN SIMMONS Producer

Erin Simmons is a producer and comedian who has worked in London, Edinburgh, Oxford and NYC. Her past credits include Edinburgh Fringe 2015 Sell-out Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes, Diva Magazine's 'one-to-watch' Manic Pixie Dream Girls and large scale events at Lincoln Centre, the Tower of London and the University of Oxford.

This Really is Dramaturgy: Gracefool @ Edfringe 2017

Venue: Underbelly, Big Belly (Venue 61) 

Dates: 3-27 Aug (not 14)

Time: 15.20 (55 mins) 

Edinburgh Fringe 2017: Theatre WORLD PREMIERE

Gracefool Collective/Underbelly Untapped (UK) present

THIS REALLY IS TOO MUCH

Outlandish, bold, highly entertaining and slickly choreographed theatre from Fringe first timers

Gracefool Collective: This really is too much from Gracefool Collective on Vimeo.

Raucous, provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, Fringe debutants Gracefool Collective deliver a genre-busting show that reveals the downright absurd realities of life as a three-dimensional, high definition, water-drinking, salad-eating, moisturising W.O.M.A.N. in modern society.
 

What was the inspiration for This Really Is Too Much?

Our very initial inspiration for this piece, or at

least the image which sparked the seeds for our first ideas, came from watching businessmen in suits. On one very long bus journey from Sheffield to London we started observing with interest how these men performed their identities - powerful, rational, masculine - and how their attire was assisting them to play the role. 

It got us to thinking about the metaphor of a power suit, and whether we wore our own identities in the same way. 

So it started as a piece about power suits, and then about clothes, then performance of identity, until it finally morphed into a piece about our own identities as four women, and the pressures and anger we feel about the narrow yet unattainable roles we are supposed to fit ourselves into.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

This is a question we regularly ask ourselves, and one we feel is incredibly important to keep asking, because we want to make work which challenges and questions, so we are keen to ensure that there is also space for the audience to be involved in this. 

We have an abridged version of This really is too much which we toured earlier in the year with Red Ladder Theatre Company, and we were encouraged to see that often audiences were keen to discuss the ideas with us and each other well beyond the end of the performance, and we sometimes even maintained email dialogues with audience members that were keen to share their thoughts on the work and their personal experience of the issues. 

The experience has reaffirmed that performance can certainly be a good place for public discussion, but we feel it is also important that this is facilitated and supported by the company presenting the work, so that enough space is allowed for the audience to feel that they are being invited into the discussion rather than told what to think.

How did you first become interested in making performance?

All four of us trained as dancers, and in our final year we all focused on choreography, and became particularly interested in inter-disciplinary performance work - that is to say, playing with genre and form. 

We came together as a collective out of a shared interest in breaking away from the traditional contemporary dance mould, and making work which was not restricted to one form. This came about mainly from a frustration with the limitations we felt in dance, and a desire to make work which explored big complicated topics. 

Performance was something that made sense to us as a means to interrogate our own thoughts and feelings on subjects as well as a method of sharing our ideas, provoking discussion and perhaps most importantly giving us a way of laughing at systems of power or oppression in order to undermine the power they hold over us.

Is there any particular approach you took to the making of the show?

The most important part of our creative process is that it is collaborative. We devise and choreograph all of our work collectively, which means the process is non-hierarchical - there is no outside director leading the ideas. This means it is also a very slow process, as we are also all performing in the work, and involves a lot of talking. 

However, it is also something which we feel enriches the work and gives it layers of meaning, as we have four heads working instead of just one!

Does the show fit with the style of your other productions?

Although all of our work has taken very different forms (from an interactive auction in a warehouse to a surreal cabaret about Europe) the uniting factor is humour. We like to make work about serious topics that doesn’t take itself too seriously. 

As much as we love making political dance/theatre/physical comedy, we are also aware of its limitations so we like to keep the process lighthearted. There is certainly a Gracefool style emerging - absurd, bold, humorous - but as we are a new company this style is still shifting and moulding, and we like the idea that each piece we make might be very different from the last!

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

We hope that the audience might feel some recognition of the situations or experiences presented on stage, as our aim is not to point fingers but to shine light on some of the ridiculous scenarios we observe in real life and to challenge how easily we accept these. We sometimes find that putting something onstage out of context is enough to expose its ridiculousness. 

But above all we hope the audience will experience a fun hour of entertainment - whatever that might mean to them!

Slickly choreographed and dripping with feminist charm and anarchic wit, This Really Is Too Much combines dance, dark comedy and theatre. They delve deeply into a world of farcical stereotypes and preposterous power struggles, wrestling with gender, identity and social convention along the way.

After (almost) 100 years of women’s suffrage in Britain how far have we really come since then?

This Really Is Too Much is an outlandish, thought-provoking and wildly entertaining medley of absurd political speeches, talent contests, job interviews and box ticking. Kate Cox, Sofia Edstrand, Rachel Fullegar and Rebecca Holmberg fight themselves, each other and society’s expectations to be individual, political, beautiful, popular and in control.



Gracefool Collective is a four woman strong company of theatre makers formed in 2013. They make post-intellectual-pseudo-spiritual-feminist-comedy-dance-theatre for the modern day. They make it collaboratively, perform it collaboratively and write, design, devise, direct, manage, market, fundraise, budget, tweet, tour book, teach, schmooze, promote and play collaboratively.


 This Really Is Too Much has been selected to be part of the second Underbelly Untapped season which supports fantastic new writing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

See a short promotional video here

www.gracefoolcollective.comListings information
Venue: Underbelly, Big Belly (Venue 61)
Dates:  3-27 Aug (not 14)
Time:    15.20 (55 mins)
Tickets: £9 - £11 (previews 3-4 Aug £6.50)
Venue Box Office: 03333 444 167
Online: www.underbelly.co.uk 

Dramaturgy in Human Skin: Nicole Henriksen @ Edfringe 2017

A Robot in Human Skin 

Presented and Written by Nicole Henriksen Award-nominated performer, writer, and producer Nicole Henriksen follows up her critically acclaimed theatre debut with a brand new piece. 

Known for tackling difficult topics with grace, wit, and tact, Henriksen's new work is no exception. 

A Robot In Human Skin is a fresh, truthful, and heartfelt look at mental health and the ways we treat and understand it. Come take a look into the Robot's mind. 

2 to 28 Aug, no show 15th Aug Time: 20:30 (60 mins running time) 

Venue: Daisy, Underbelly Med Quad, Teviot Place, EH8 9AG

What was the inspiration for this performance?

When I was touring my debut theatre show last year (Makin' It Rain, discussing my job as a stripper), I noted audiences really responded to a short moment in which I spoke about my mental health. And so, it felt that a show exploring mental health more deeply, but with the same balance from my debut theatre show, that of raw truth telling, and a whimsical cheeky voice in some moments, would create an important and beautiful show in A Robot In Human Skin.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

I think performance will never cease to be the perfect space for public discussion of ideas. For me, the fact that a performance allows me time to plan out how I'd like to phrase a point, and form a connection with strangers in a room for an hour, affords me so much freedom and safety to be open and honest in a manner that might feel too daunting if it were an actual discussion, even with close friends. 

People can't talk back in a performance, they can leave never seeing me again, they can dismiss it because they see it as fiction. I have a freedom and a safety in performance, so I can discuss ideas in a manner I may never be able to in person, and so I can't see how it isn't the ideal place for that discussion.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I was about forty coffees and a mental breakdown away from being a novelist when I started watching The Mighty Boosh TV programme. It lit up my mind, entertained me, and made me feel I could make something like that. 

An exploration of melding art forms together to create something unique. And since comedy requires no formal training to get up on stage, I started performing stand up and writing alternative comedy shows. Then after five years, I created a theatre show about stripping and the frequently asked questions I receive as a sex worker. And from that reaction, I knew I had to keep creating theatre. 

I approach solo theatre with a different perspective than most because of those five years playing characters, creating music and multimedia, and learning the rules of timing, as a comedy performer. So that perspective creates something refreshing for audiences. And if that refreshing approach allows for more truthful discussion of topics such a mental health, I couldn't feel more proud to keep exploring theatre.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I think my process would give other theatre creators several stress-induced heart attacks. I never script a show completely. I allow a show to rattle around in my head for a few months or even a year, then I sit down and it pours out over a few writing sessions. 

During those sessions, I write notes and connect each section with dot points, but never lock down the content word for word, all while performing it in the process to ensure it flows correctly. I don't script because my shows need to feel open, vulnerable, and real, because they are. 

They're about my life and perspective, so I like to perform them fresh each time, knowing where I'm going, but allowing the wording to change as the moment requires it.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

No. This is another departure from my comedy background, and not related to my previous theatre work, Makin' It Rain. A Robot In Human Skin stands alone as a piece on one person's experience of mental illness, though anyone who has seen Makin' It Rain, or even my previous comedy works, could see their influence in terms of structure and composition.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

The audience is actually my first thought. I work backwards once I work out how I'd like people to feel leaving the theatre, or picking up a flyer, or seeing a poster for the show. I'd hope the audience will leave feeling as though they've been held while being told a bedtime story that hit a slightly tender spot, but a very engaging storyline that kept them captivated, with a moral that left them asking questions of themselves and those close to them.

Beadledoom Dramaturgy: Familia de la Noche @ Edfringe 2017

As part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017, 

Supported by Greenwich Theatre and produced by Familia de la Noche

BEADLEDOM: alpha and BEADLEDOM: Omega (clown)

Familia de la Noche return with two shows

BEADLEDOM: alpha and BEADLEDOM: Omega (Clown)

performed on alternate days at Underelly Cowgate (Iron Belly) from 4 – 27 August at 2.50pm.  Using their trademark style of clowning, music and puppetry the company looks at life and death. 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The inspiration for Beadledom came from three different directions. 

The first was the idea of inspiration itself. What inspires people to make decisions in their lives and how are those decisions coloured by what is around us. What holds us back from reaching where we want to be and what stops us from making connections.  Secondly, we wanted to work with two of our favourite performers, Dott Cotton and Edward Cartwright and to shape the performance around their particular skills. 

Thirdly we wanted to look as some big questions about life and death and our attitudes and beliefs towards them. But rather than approaching abstract ideas in an abstract way we wanted to form narratives around them, making them personal rather than simply intellectual.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

I think it’s one of the best. Our approach is to put our ideas out there, allow people to absorb them and form their own opinion. For us it’s non-confrontational and open and allows people time to feel and digest before discussing, which is an opportunity you don’t always get. We never think what we are doing is “right”, we are not trying to impress an opinion on anyone. It’s an offer and we want to know what people think in response.

How did you become interested in

making performance?

 When I was about 14 I watched a show. It was a mixture of dance, circus, straight acting, crazy design with mud and water everywhere. It was epic and bonkers but made total sense and I thought to myself – I want to do that. A few years of acting down the line and I saw another show. It had dance and circus and a field of Christmas trees and I thought to myself – I want to make that, just watching wasn’t quite enough. For me performance has always been about telling stories in the most inventive and engaging way – I love watching but I love making even more.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

For us the story will always be the most important thing. It’s what we do best. Once we had our basic concept we moved straight on to finding our characters and working out ways for them to navigate and explore that concept. We made our lives a bit more difficult than usual as both the Beadledoms are one person shows and both are plays without words. This means we examined really carefully what we mean by character. The music, set, projections and audience are all characters in the pieces which gives a really inclusive feel to the performance. 

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

These shows draw together of lots of things we’ve learnt from making our previous shows. They are strongly character and narrative led and we are using shadow puppetry and projection, so they definitely look and feel like a Familia show. We’re also pushing ourselves this year, making two shows that jigsaw together, affect each other but which can also stand alone is a big challenge. Take away the words and they are even more so. We are really excited about them. They show how the company has evolved and the direction we are heading.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

 We want the audience to be a part of the journey that our characters are taking – They are one of the characters in the room (although if you live in dread of audience participation don’t worry, no one gets picked on!) and they play a different role in each of the shows. We want them to be swept through an hour, laugh, cry, be on the edge of their seats, come out of the theatre, have a coffee, think about what they saw and then realise that nobody spoke.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Once we had realised that the audience was a character in the shows our strategies centred around making them feel like they were in a role. At the same time we didn’t want that to feel forced or make anyone feel uncomfortable. We looked at way of gently involving them and suggesting the position they are in without taking away the fact that they are watching a show. We want the experience to enjoyable and fun.

Set in Beadledom, an infinite office block and the headquarters of the Universe, Familia have created a pair of shows – α (alpha) and Ω (omega) – that look at what makes humans tick; what is the difference between a brilliant flash of life and a dull flicker? 

The Beadledoms are twins, but not identical. They are designed to be viewed individually but also jigsaw together to make a giant, glorious, messy, sad, happy, beautiful story; Beadledom α alpha: follows the story of Max (Ed Cartwright; Les Enfants Terribles, The Celestial Ape, Vaults Festival and ITV; Sherlock Holmes) a Beadledom administrator on α-shift as he toils away populating the universe with life - until a catastrophic cosmos malfunction leaves Max facing the biggest system reset of all time. Beadledom Ω omega: follows the story of Deborah (Dott Cotton - Les Enfants Terribles/London Hippodrome), a Beadledom administrator on Ω-shift as she slogs away removing life from the universe. But she is obsessed with life, she longs to create one. Maybe today is her lucky day.

‘What it would be like to stroll through the inside of Tim Burton's and Terry Gilliam's minds’ SuchSmallPortions.com

Familia de la Noche is an award-winning theatre company creating shows that are funny, affecting, charming and raucously entertaining. The company won the ThreeWeeks Editors’ Award in 2015 for creating “consistently outstanding work”. In 2017 they became supported artists at Greenwich Theatre and were part of 2016 ACW Wales in Edinburgh showcase.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: α (alpha) will be performed from 4-26 August at Underbelly Cowgate, 2.50pm. Dates 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26.

LISTINGS INFORMATION: Ω (omega) will be performed from 3-27 August at Underbelly Cowgate, 2.50pm. Dates 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27. 

Both shows are at Iron Belly and Tickets from £7.30