Gate Theatre Announces Two UK Premieres From Leading Danish Artists

As part of the Gate's 40th Anniversary season, Artistic Director Ellen McDougall is continuing the venue's renowned reputation for championing European Theatre with rare opportunity to see the best of Danish theatre in a mini-showcase.

Two major shows will be making their UK premieres at the West London venue this Autumn; multi award-winning Fix&Foxy's Land Without Dreams and at Christmas acclaimed performance artist Anika Barkan's We Open Our Mouth - and Listen.

In recent years Denmark has become recognised for producing cutting edge drama on both film and television with the success of Scandi-Noir dramas such as Borgen and The Killing, as well as acclaimed storytelling in genre literature. In this showcase of work, the Gate offers a unique glimpse into Scandinavian contemporary theatre and performance, which is at once provocative, challenging, mischievous and funny but overall, intellectually thrilling.

European work is a rarity on British stages but the Gate has led the vanguard by including international work from around the world as part of its core mission. As a theatre, it has always been synonymous with radical performance - consistently producing uncompromising, eclectic and surprising new work- and this 40thanniversary season celebrates this tradition which just opened with Kirsty Housley's remarkable and critically acclaimed Mephisto [A Rhapsody].

Artistic Director Ellen McDougall said 'One of the most thrilling aspects of running the Gate is being able to bring cutting edge international theatre-makers to make work for our intimate space, and to introduce them to a London audience. I am absolutely thrilled to be presenting the work of Tue Biering and Lise Lauenblad of Danish theatre company Fix&Foxy. Fix&Foxy's work spans popular culture (past productions include adaptations of Friends and Pretty Woman) with a playful and rigorous examination of social and political questions. Land without Dreams is a joyful investigation of how we think about the future. Following that, I'm delighted to be able to invite Anika Barkan, another Danish artist with their show, We Open Our Mouth - And Listen as a Gate Guest this December. This gig-theatre show about solidarity and togetherness is a heart-warming piece that will provide an edgy alternative to the traditional Christmas show

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The Gate Theatre, in association with Fix&Foxy presents

Land Without Dreams

Created by Fix&Foxy

Directed and Written by Tue Biering
Translated by Sophie H Smith

Director (London) Lise Lauenblad

Sound Designer Janus Jensen

Thursday 14 November to Saturday 7 December

PRESS NIGHT: TUESDAY 19 NOVEMBER AT 7PM

This is a play about the future (and climate change. Not insomnia).

A woman walks on to the stage. She says she is from the future. She says that we have stopped dreaming. She says we can change everything. She says that she can help end all our dystopian nightmares.

But we know plays don't change the world. Right?

Directed by Lise Lauenblad in London, with originating director and writer Tue Biering, and performed by Temi Wilkey (The High Table and co-founder of PECS - The Drag King Collective), Land Without Dreams is a hopeful, funny and courageous new show which challenges us to think about ourselves, our possibilities- and especially our future.

Fix&Foxy is a multi-award-winning experimental theatre company based in Copenhagen which develops performances and works collectively with artists of all genres, and people of many backgrounds, to deliver original experiences in and outside of conventional performing arts spaces.

Lead by Tue Biering and Jeppe Kristensen, who innovate with pop culture, blockbusters, media and to make playful and poetic theatre that deals with modern societal taboos. Recent work includes a reimagining of the cult TV series Twin Peaks performed in eight cars around the remote Odsherred peninsula of Denmark; and Pretty Woman, a staged version of the Hollywood movie, starring real life prostitutes. The company last performed in London as part of Theatre of Europe with a radical version of Ibsen's A Doll's House staged in different people's homes around London.

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A.Barkan Production in association with the Gate Theatre presents

We Open Our Mouth - And Listen (An intimate performance concert)

Written and Performed By Anika Barkan

Directed and Choreographed by Cille Lansade

Composer and Live Music by Mika Forsling

Tuesday 17 to Saturday 21 December at 7.30pm

Anika Barkan's We Open Our Mouth - and Listen is a meditation on the complexities of human relationships, how we live together and what solidarity means in the modern age.

In an attempt to regain the spirit of childhood and unshakable belief that we can change the world together, Anika Kristensen Barkan decides to write her own utopian manifesto.

In a raw, playful and heart-warming performance which is part-gig, part-theatre performance, the show examines with gentle humour and optimism what it takes to reawaken our connection to the world. With live music from Mika Forsling, the performance raises questions about apathy, individualism, community and whether we still have something to fight for - together.

Anika Barkan is a Danish performancemaker, with more than 25 years of experience. She has lived and worked in Japan, New York, South Africa and Palestine, and is now based in Copenhagen. Among others she has studied/worked with Min Tanaka at Body Weather Farm in Japan, Anna Halprin, the SITI Company/Ann Bogart, the Woostergroup in the US and Sibikwa Art Center in Johannesburg/South Africa. She is the co-founded of CoreAct, an innovative inter-disciplinary performance/art ensemble that focuses on social issues with global prospective. She also works as a teacher and facilitator.