BOY ON THE ROOF Comes to Corn Exchange Newbury Next Month

Vamos Theatre, the UK’s leading mask theatre company, comes to the Corn Exchange Newbury on Thursday 7 March with their new production, Boy on the Roof. Created through Community Conversations across the UK, Boy on the Roof is the story of an unlikely friendship between Liam, a teenage boy with ADHD, and his 91-year-old neighbour, Albert. Performed without words, it features three of the best physical theatre and mask actors in the UK; Gavin Maxwell, a neurodivergent theatre-maker and movement director whose extensive body of work includes five years as a practitioner for Frantic Assembly; mask specialist James Greaves, whose seminal work with Trestle Theatre has taken him across the world and renowned mask performer Alan Riley, a founder member of Trestle Theatre.  

With full face masks especially made for the show by Russell Dean of Strangeface, the production features a full-length score and sound design, innovative film projection and an inventive set. The production is accessible to deaf audiences without BSL interpretation.

Rachael Savage, writer and director of Boy on the Roof, comments, ’This has been an incredibly exciting production to work on right from the off, thanks to everyone who has helped shape it through telling us of their own experiences in our Community Conversations. We’re grateful to the many people across the UK who have shared their experiences with us and helped us to understand many of the issues involved. Like all Vamos Theatre productions, the show highlights the importance of making connection, helping us all to better understand our shared humanity. 

We’re also lucky enough to be working with three fantastic mask performers who bring a wealth of experience and talent to the stage, and we’ve pushed ourselves much further in exploring ways film, sound and lighting tell stories and create worlds, and I think our audiences will be as excited as I am about how that works. We’re looking forward to getting feedback from our regular and new audiences.’