Billy Bragg Explores Identity and Loyalty in PRESSURE DROP, 4/19-5/12

Singer/songwriter Billy Bragg will look at English identity and loyalty in the new drama PRESSURE DROP, premiering in late Spring at Wellcome Collection in the UK. 'Pressure Drop' is the latest work from On Theatre and Mick Gordon. Bragg has written songs for the piece that is part play, part gig, part art installation.

Asking a central question - "what makes me who I am?" - PRESSURE DROP explores the individual, familial, social and political reference points that make a person definable and recognisable to themselves and others.

The event presents three generations of a white, working-class English family struggling to define themselves both in relation to one another and within a changing social landscape. At the heart of the work lies a paradox. Our identities are continually in flux, but at the same time we need a firm sense of rootedness, of belonging to something stable.

PRESSURE DROP sees Gordon join forces with legendary singer-songwriter Billy Bragg. In his book 'The Progressive Patriot', Bragg explores what it means to be English in contemporary Britain. Reflecting on his family, their history and revisiting the music that originally inspired him, Bragg challenges versions of patriotism proposed by the far right. For the production he will write and perform new work.

PRESSURE DROP is written Mick Gordon and features songs by Billy Bragg. The show features a design team including direction by Christopher Haydon and set design by Tom Scutt. The rest of the production team includes lighting design by Mark Howland, sound design by Mike Furness and Grant Showbiz, casting by Nadine Rennie, and production by On Theatre and Wellcome Collection.

Billy Bragg was described by The Times newspaper as a ‘National Treasure'. In the two and a half decades of his career Bragg has certainly made an indelible mark on the conscience of British music, becoming perhaps the most stalwart guardian of the radical dissenting tradition that stretches back over centuries of the country's political, cultural and social history.

Bragg is an English alternative rock musician who blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs. His lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes. His music career has lasted more than 30 years, and he has collaborated with Natalie Merchant, Johnny Marr, Florence and the Machine, Kate Nash, Leon Rosselson, members of R.E.M., Michelle Shocked, Less Than Jake, Kitty Daisy & Lewis, Kirsty MacColl, and Wilco. Bragg often plays and speaks at the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival. Bragg Close, a street in Dagenham, is named in his honour.

Mick Gordon is Artistic Director of On Theatre and On Film, Head of Directing at E15 and Senior Researcher, Theatre and Mind Unit, Plymouth University. He was Trevor Nunn's Associate Director at the Royal National Theatre and was Director of the National's Transformation Season. Previously he was Artistic Director of London's Gate Theatre. Awards include Critics Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer and the Peter Brook Award for Most Outstanding Theatre. His directorial credits include The Home Place (Lyric Theatre Belfast), Deep Cut (Sherman Theatre Cardiff, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, Tricycle Theatre London), Grimms Tales (Dusko Radovic Belgrade/Belgrade Annual Theatre Prize, Best Production), and Dancing at Lughnasa (Lyric Theatre Belfast).

Christopher Haydon studied at Cambridge University and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama and the National Theatre Studio. In 2007 he was the recipient of both the inaugural Chichester Festival Theatre Heller Fellowship and the Channel Four Theatre Director's Bursary to spend a year on attachment at the Salisbury Playhouse. Haydon has directed Monsters (Arcola Theatre May 2009), A Number (Salisbury Playhouse), Grace (British Council/On Theatre, Theatre Du Poche, Brussels, Belgium), and Notes from Underground (Arcola Theatre).

Tickets for PRESSURE DROPare available for £20 with £15 concessions (+ £1.50 transaction fee). The production will feature post-show discussions following the April 29th and May 6th performances, which are provided free to same-day ticket holders. Tickets may be purchased online at www.angeltix.com or by calling the box office at 0844 412 4318.

Wellcome Collection is a unique mix of galleries, events, and meeting, reading and eating places where you can consider what it means to be human. Part of Wellcome Collection, the Library has over 750 000 books and journals, an extensive range of manuscripts, archives and films, and Wellcome Images is one of the Wellcome Library's major visual collections. Through its collections and services, the Wellcome Library provides insight and information to anyone seeking to understand medicine and its role in society, past and present. More than 30 000 readers visit each year, including historians, academics, students, health professionals and members of the general public. More about the Library.

To post a comment, you must register and login.