Luca Silvestrini’s Protein presents:
May Contain Food – May Contain You
Award-winning dance company Luca Silvestrini’s Protein returns with a specially adapted version of their playful and immersive show to tour the country
Conceived and created by Luca Silvestrini and Orlando Gough
Music by Orlando Gough | Directed by Luca Silvestrini
UK Tour 13th February to 30th
“Foodie culture is carved up gloriously in this lip-smacking fusion”
«««« Guardian on May Contain Food
Luca Silvestrini’s Protein is to tour a refashioned version of their witty dance and music production May Contain Food to village halls and theatre venues around the country this Spring. May Contain Food – May Contain You encourages audiences to think about the sensory, cultural and social implications of food.
This special adaptation is a duet for dancers Sonya Cullingford and Matthew Winston who both appeared in the original production which toured the UK in 2016. Sat around themed circular tables designed by Yann Seabra, the audience will be served a playful performance, accompanied by songs by acclaimed composer and published home cook Orlando Gough.
Audiences are invited to join in by bringing and sharing homemade dishes and locally sourced or homegrown food for table picnics. In this informal, immersive cabaret-style show, audiences will be encouraged to share their own stories, memories and anecdotes associated with food, as well as helping the performers bake a sticky ginger pudding live on stage. Protein will also be bringing this sense of community and camaraderie to older and vulnerable people by taking a specially adapted version, May Contain You, into seventeen care homes alongside their national tour.
Speaking about the tour Luca Silvestrini said: “We understand that for a small community what’s happening in their town or village hall is much more than a show, and I want May Contain Food, May Contain You to be an event which reflects this quite simple but beautiful concept. We all know that food is not just a way to keep us going, but instead a more complex system of habits and patterns intimately connected to who we are and how we feel. It has been fascinating to explore this subject and discover how intricate, and often disturbed, our relationship to eating can be; and how easily food becomes a substitute for something we miss, have lost or need.”
One of the most distinctive voices in British dance theatre, Protein creates extraordinary dance from ordinary life. Its socially relevant material connects theatrical experiences with the everyday and real-life stories.Protein’s Border Tales, which peels back stereotypes about multicultural Britain, recently toured following a critically-acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe where it was nominated for the prestigious Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award. Protein was awarded the Critic’s Circle National Dance Award for Best Independent Dance Company 2011, and was nominated again in 2016.
Luca Silvestrini completed his dance training at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Since then Luca has worked with Maxine Doyle’s First Person, Catherine Seymour Dance Company, Lea Anderson and The Featherstonehaughs, Rose’s Thoughts, Bock & Vincenzi, Sarah Rubidge, Joanna Portolou, Ruth Segalis and Aletta Collins. His choreography dates from 1997 when he co-founded Protein. As Artistic Director he is known for idiosyncratic dance theatre work provoked by its deep connections with the everyday.
Orlando Gough is one of the UK’s leading composers, celebrated for his compositions for contemporary dance, ballet and theatre. Recently, he has worked on the critically acclaimed Mr Burns (Almeida Theatre) and the community opera Imago (Glyndebourne), which won a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2014. He is an associate artist for the Royal Opera House and published a book of his favourite recipes in 2012.
@proteindance | #MayContainFood | www.proteindance.co.uk
Running Time: 90 mins | Suitable for ages 12 + (contains mild swearing)
Company Information
Conceived and created by Luca Silvestrini and Orlando Gough
Performed by Sonya Cullingford & Matthew Winston
Directed by Luca Silvestrini Music by Orlando Gough
Designed by Yann Seabra Lighting by Jackie Shemesh
Additional material devised by Jeremy Avis, Sara Black, Martin George, Jonathan Glew, Antonia Grove, Carl Harrison, Michael Henry, Saara Hurme, Donna Lennard, Sally Marie, Melanie Pappenheim, Louise Sofield, Peter Willcock and Jonathan Williams.
Listings information
13th February to 30th March 2018
13 Feb The Albany, London
Douglas Way Deptford, London SE8 4AG
2pm
www.thealbany.org.uk | 020 8692 4446
17 Feb The Tramshed, London
Tramshed, 51-53 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6ES
7pm
www.glypt.co.uk | 020 8854 1316
20 Feb artsdepot, London
5 Nether St, North Finchley, London N12 0GA
1.30pm
www.artsdepot.co.uk | 020 8369 5454
23 Feb Clungunford Parish Hall, Shropshire
Chapel Road, Clungunford, Craven Arms SY7 0PN
7.30pm
www.artsalive.co.uk | 015 8866 0152
24 Feb Stantonbury Theatre, Milton Keynes
Stantonbury Arts & Leisure, Stantonbury, Milton Keynes MK14 6BN
7.30pm
www.stantonburytheatre.co.uk | 01908 324466
2 Mar Mycenae House, London
Mycenae House, 90 Mycenae Road, London SE3 7S
2.30pm & 7.30pm
www.mycenaehouse.co.uk | 020 8858 1749
3 Mar Middle Park Community Centre, London
150 Middle Park Avenue, London SE9 5SD
6.30pm
020 8850 2638
7 Mar ARC, Stockton
Dovecot Street, Stockton on Tees TS18 1LL
11am
www.arconline.co.uk | 01642525199
9 Mar Blackhall Community Centre, Hartlepool
The Old Miners Welfare Hall, Hesleden Road, Blackhall, Hartlepool TS27 4LG
7pm
www.durhamlocate.org.uk/Services/2753/Blackhall-Community | 01905867396
10 Mar Whitechapel Village Hall, Lancashire
Church Lane, Whitechapel, Goosnargh, Preston PR3 2EP
7.30pm
www.spotonlancashire.co.uk | 01995 640 504
16 Mar Orton Market Hall, (Highlights), Cumbria
Orton, Penrith CA10 3RL
7.30pm
www.highlightsnorth.co.uk | 01539 624 732
17 Mar Bardon Mill and Henshaw Village Hall, (Highlights), Northumberland
Redburn Park , Bardon Mill, Hexham, Northumberland NE47 7HZ
7.30pm
www.highlightsnorth.co.uk | 01434 344 424
22 Mar Grampound Village Hall, Cornwall
Grampound, Nr Truro, Cornwall TR2 4SB
7.30pm
www.hallforcornwall.co.uk | 01872 262466
24 Mar Kingsdon Village Hall, Somerset
Kingsdon, Somerton TA11 7LL
7.30pm
www.takeart.org | 01935 840912
28 Mar RedHouse Cymru
High Street, Merthyr Tydfil CF47 8AE
7.30pm
www.redhousecymru.com | 01685 384111
30 Mar Theatre Street at The Link, London
The Link, Bazalgette Way, London SE2 9BS
7.30pm
www.theatrestreet.com | 020 8312 1659
The King’s Head Theatre, following on from the exciting news that the company will be moving in 2018 to a purpose built, permanent space in the heart of Islington Square, is delighted to announce that they and Joe C Brown will present the West End transfer of Tommy Murphy’s Strangers in Between. Adam Spreadbury-Maher, Artistic Director of the King’s Head Theatre, will direct the production, which will run at Trafalgar Studios 2 from 10 January to 3 February 2018. Strangers in Between will have a national press night on 12 January 2018.
Tommy Murphy’s Strangers in Between tells the story of Shane, a timid 16 year-old who has fled his rural hometown for the glitz and glamour of Sydney’s King’s Cross, in order to escape his troubled past and attempt to establish an urban family. This coming-of-age, dark comedy looks at the importance of friendship and the highs and lows of growing up gay in modern Australia. The cast includes Roly Botha as Shane, Dan Hunter as Will and Stephen Connery-Brown as Peter.
The King’s Head Theatre’s Artistic Director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher, founded the Cock Tavern Theatre, OperaUpClose and the Hope Theatre before joining the King’s Head Theatre as Artistic Director in 2010. Since becoming Artistic Director of the King’s Head Theatre, Adam’s directing highlights include Trainspotting and the recent 35th-anniversary production of Kevin Elyot’s Coming Clean. He recently opened a critically acclaimed new version of Puccini’s Tosca.
Tommy Murphy is an Australian playwright best known for his stage and screen adaptation of Timothy Conigrave’s memoir Holding the Man, which won numerous awards including Best Play at the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards, an award he also won for Strangers in Between, making him the only playwright to win this award in successive years.
Strangers in Between is designed by Becky-Dee Trevenen, with lighting by Richard Williamson and sound by Jon McLeod.
