Burrows and Fargion's REWRITING AND SCIENCE FICTION Comes to The Lilian Baylis Studio in May

Choreographer Jonathan Burrows and composer Matteo Fargion have been collaborators for 30 years, slowly building a body of work which straddles the line between dance, music, performance art and comedy. Rewriting and Science Fiction is presented on Thursday 5 May and Friday 6 May at 8pm in the Lilian Baylis Studio.

The duets are the outcome of a three year process of collecting and sifting through ideas and materials stored over decades of collaboration. Rewriting (2019) is an increasingly complex memorised choreography of 108 cards, each of which carries a written thought that fuels a simultaneous spoken stream of consciousness, accompanied by music played on a Casio keyboard. The performance is about the impossibility of choreographing, and is both philosophical and funny.

Science Fiction (2021) is a loud, accumulative music performance for synthesisers, percussion, and voice, which invites the audience to meditate on the questions left hovering after the first piece. The title reflects the ways in which the music draws you into an irresistible game of remembering what came before and wondering what will happen next.

Burrows and Fargion have drawn an international following for their work, which combines intellectual rigour with unexpected humour and has its roots in a shared love of classical music. Their approach to performance is both anarchic and joyful. 

Jonathan Burrows and Matteo Fargion are co-produced by PACT Zollverein, Essen and Sadler's Wells, London. 

Press night: Thursday 5 May at 8pm.