THE RED CHAIR to Tour Scotland

Touring Scotland for the first time, Sarah Cameron's towering solo performance is a delicious feast for the imagination performed in luscious Scots dialect and served with tasty morsels Press Night: Friday 3 March, Tron Theatre Glasgow, 8pm.

A contemporary take on folk and fairytale storytelling traditions, The Red Chair is a surreal ballad populated with larger than life characters which draws the audience into the extraordinary world of a troubled family, living together but each trapped in their own lonely worlds. Told in a saucy Scots dialect, The Red Chair tells the darkly humorous story of a father who eats and eats until he turns into the chair he is sitting upon, the wife doomed to cook his meals and their 'inveesible' daughter.

The epic and lyrical narrative takes audiences on a journey through a landscape of twisted reason, extreme compulsion and eye watering complacency, where domestic drudgery happens on an operatic scale and a father's dereliction of duty reaches epic proportions. At three points in the show, audiences are invited to try tasty nibbles sourced from local suppliers and a dram of whisky to oil the way.

Created in collaboration with Dundee-born Sarah Cameron and based on her original book, The Red Chair is performed with the physical vitality that has become a trademark of Clod Ensemble's work, rooted in the training that both Sarah and director Suzy Willson received at the Jacques Lecoq school in Paris. Woven into the production is an original sound score created by Clod Ensemble co-artistic director Paul Clark.

Director Suzy Willson said "Clod Ensemble usually works with music and is movement based work rather than being centered around text. We had worked with Sarah Cameron as a performer for many years but had no idea she could write too, so when she showed us the book she had been working on called The Red Chair, we were blown away by the quality of the language. Sarah is a virtuosic physical performer as well as a sculptor -the story felt to us like a kind of sculpture of words and we immediately wanted to hear and see her telling it."

Writer and performer Sarah Cameron said: "A Scottish tour is a thrilling prospect as it is an opportunity to bring the work back to its natural home. The language and the dialect of conjurer's up the wild beauty of the Scottish landscape. The text speaks of family and ancestry and in many ways is a romantic remembrance of Scotland, which is ingrained within my being and my heart."

@clodensemble | www.facebook.com/ClodEnsemble | www.clodensemble.com

Running Time: 1 hr 40 mins | Suitable for ages 14+

Company Information

Directed by Suzy Willson Written and performed by Sarah Cameron

Music by Paul Clark Lighting Design by Hansjorg Schmidt
Design by Sarah Blenkinsop Produced in association with Fuel

Listings information

3 & 4 Mar

Tron Theatre, Glasgow

63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB

8pm | £10 / £7.50

www.tron.co.uk | 0141 552 4267

6 Mar

Eden Court, Inverness

Bishops Road, Inverness IV3 5SA

7:30pm | £11

www.eden-court.co.uk | 01463 239841

17 & 18 Mar

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh EH1 2ED

8pm | £16.50 / £13.50 / £8.50

www.traverse.co.uk | 0131 228 1404

20 Mar

Theatre Royal, Dumfries

66-68 Shakespeare Street, Dumfries DG1 2JH

7:30pm | £10

www.theatreroyaldumfries.co.uk | 01387 254209

31 Mar

Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee

Tay Square, Dundee DD1 1PB

7:30pm | £14 / £12 / £11

www.dundeerep.co.uk | 01382 223530

Notes to Editors

Please note there is a double L in Suzy Willson.

About Clod Ensemble

Clod Ensemble is one of the UK's most prominent interdisciplinary performance companies. Music and movement is deeply embedded in all of the works in the company's repertoire. For over 20 years the company has created an extraordinary body of work lead by Artistic Directors Suzy Willson and Paul Clark. Their work is presented across the UK and internationally, including Sadler's Wells, Tate Modern, Public Theater New York and Serralves Museum Poto. Clod Ensemble has a repertoire of critically acclaimed work, each production with its own distinctive musical and visual identity. Recently the Company has embarked in a new music collaboration with OENM in Salzburg.

Suzy Willson graduated from Manchester University before studying with Jacques Lecoq in Paris. On her return she co-founded Clod Ensemble and has directed all of their productions to date. She teaches drama and movement to students, actors, musicians and leads the company's Performing Medicine project. She has worked as a movement director on productions at the Gate, Soho Theatre, BAC, with film director Arnaud Desplechin, performance poet Malaika B, and Jessica Ogden for London Fashion week.

Paul Clark is a leading composer on the British performance scene. His music has reached a range of international audiences and venues such as Lincoln Centre NewYork, Vienna Burgtheater, Berlin Schaubuhne and Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg, through collaborations with Gare St Lazare Irelend and Director Katie Mitchell.

About Sarah Cameron

Sarah Cameron is an artist, performer and writer. Born in Dundee, she studied sculpture at the Chelsea School of Art and theatre at Ecole International de Theatre Jacques Lecoq. She has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, West Yorkshire Playhouse and the Young Vic, where she was a member of the resident company that created the legendary production of Grimm Tales. She first worked with Clod Ensemble in 1999, touring their production of Greed internationally in 2003, performing in Zero at Sadler's Wells Theatre, and most recently in a production of An Anatomie in Four Quarters at The Lowry.

About Fuel

The Red Chair is produced in association with Fuel. Founded in 2004, and led by Louise Blackwell and Kate McGrath, Fuel is a producing organisation working in partnership with some of the most exciting artists in the UK to develop, create and present new work for all. Fuel is currently working with artists including: Will Adamsdale, Clod Ensemble, Inua Ellams, Fevered Sleep, David Rosenberg, Sound&Fury, Uninvited Guestsand Melanie Wilson. fueltheatre.com @fueltheatre

To post a comment, you must register and login.