Choreographer Ieva Kuniskis Presents THEY LIVE NEXT DOOR

'They Live Next Door' is a beautifully observed dance and theatre piece about a turbulent relationship between two men created by Lithuanian choreographer Ieva Kuniskis and performed by Nicholas Minns and Mark Boldin.

The men's relationship is at once combative, loving, conflicted, tender. Minns and Boldin use Kuniskis' engrossing and nuanced movement vocabulary to present the audience with an emotional roller-coaster. As the relationship between them unravels, the audience is inevitably sucked into their world and our fascination for other people's lives is given its full rein.

"I am interested in social psychology and I'm fascinated by our idiosyncrasies, exploring what makes us who we are," says Ieva. "I observe how stereotypes and social labelling affects our identity and relationships. In 'They Live Next Door' the two central characters are stuck...they don't communicate any more yet they're co-dependent, weighed down by duty, expectation and longing and they can't break away from each other. We're drawn into their world and wonder how and why they got to this stage; we might judge, empathise or even recognise aspects of our own lives. They may live next door to us but apart from the odd hello, how much do we really know about our next door neighbours' lives?"

Following a very successful international premiere at Baltic Dance Festival, 'They Live Next Door' tours the UK in October 2018 and March 2019.

Ieva's choreography draws on contemporary dance, physical theatre, and folk dances to create a unique, physical and theatrical language. Nuanced movement narrates snapshots of scenarios played out alongside an original soundtrack composed by Dougie Evans. "We wanted to create nostalgic melodies that feel like a background soundtrack to the men's lives," says Ieva. "Inspirations include Russian waltzes and romance songs; the music is lovely all the way through. It was a conscious decision to keep the piano and guitar quite whimsical as a counterpoint to the tensions in the men's relationship."