Company Chameleon's BEAUTY OF THE BEAST to Premiere at The Lowry, 22 October

COMPANY CHAMELEON, the award-winning, dance/physical theatre company run by Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner out of Manchester, will tour the intense, funny, painful and highly entertaining BEAUTY OF THE BEAST this autumn. Premiering at the Lowry on October 22nd, where the company are Resident Artists, UK dates will run till November 26th. See below for details.

Featuring five outstanding performers - Anthony Missen, Eryck Brahmania, Lee Clayden, Thomasin Gülgeç, Kevin Lennon - the brand new production is choreographed for Company Chameleon by Artistic Director Anthony Missen. A moving and subversive look at male group dynamics, Beauty of the Beast exposes the many faces of man - strength, camaraderie, vulnerability and hostility; and what happens when affiliation becomes identity. (Photo above by Brian Slater)

With an exciting mix of collaborators, five exceptional performers showcase the company's unique physical style, combining dance, theatre and live music to hold up a topical mirror to our times.

Commissioned by The Lowry, DanceXchange and Live at LICA

BEAUTY OF THE BEAST - autumn 2014 tour dates:
October 22nd, 23rd Salford, The Lowry www.thelowry.com
November 4th Ormskirk, Edge Hill Arts Centre www.edgehill.ac.uk/artscentre
November 8th Plymouth Barbican Theatre www.plymouthbarbican.com
November 11th Tewkesbury, Roses Theatre www.rosestheatre.org
November 13th, 14th Birmingham, DanceXchange www.dancexchange.org.uk
November 18th London, The Place www.theplace.org.uk
November 21st Leeds, NSCD www.nscd.ac.uk
November 22nd Everton, Capstone Theatre www.thecapstonetheatre.com
November 26th Salisbury Arts Centre www.salisburyartscentre.co.uk

Says Anthony Missen: "As a chameleon changes its colour, so too do we change ours. The context - whether in a council estate or on stage; the medium - whether film or live performance. We're particularly interested in making work about what makes men tick, how they interact with the world and each other, their families and friends, whatever their situation. Our new production, Beauty of the Beast looks at group behaviour and what happens when a gang mentality is pervasive, how it alters individual personalities, how those individuals behave when they're striving to adhere to an idea of common identity and culture and how it affects their lives.

"We're enormously grateful to the Lowry, DanceXchange and Live at LICA for commissioning and supporting Beauty of the Beast; we're in the process of creating it and each venue has been generous enough to offer us rehearsal space which is fantastic as we don't have our own. It means we've got enough time and space in which to create the work before going on the road in October."

Formed in 2007 Company Chameleon is based in Manchester and became Resident Company at the Lowry in 2009 when David Fry, Executive Producer of HOME MCR, was the Lowry's Head of Programming: "As soon as Kevin and Anthony became Resident Artists," remembers David, "they animated the building and engaged with audiences in a way we hadn't seen before. Their outreach work is invaluable and I am convinced young people are turned on to dance thanks to their charisma and energy."

Anthony and Kevin met 20 years ago at Trafford Youth Dance Theatre. They trained at Northern School of Contemporary Dance and worked together and separately with a variety of dance and dance/theatre companies and choreographers. They gradually found their own collective voice and, in creating Company Chameleon, have forged a distinctive path in the dance/theatre world with their innovative, highly observational productions about human behaviour, relationships, social issues, individual identity and heritage. Productions range from their first shorts 'Baka' (2007), 'Scribe' (2009), 'Before Night Fell' (2009 and part of a trilogy about masculinity) to the powerful duet 'Rites', the fearless 'Gameshow' (2011) and the exciting double bill 'Pictures We Make' (2013) featuring new work by Goddard/Nixon and Company Chameleon.