Handspring Puppet Company UK to Present CROW at Greenwich+Docklands International Festival

Crow is a major new production inspired by TEd Hughes' poetic creation, from Handspring Puppet Company UK, the sister company to Handspring Puppet Company South Africa. Mervyn Millar will direct Matthew Dunster's adaptation with choreography from one of Britain's rising stars in dance, Ben Duke. This much anticipated world premiere will be presented as part of the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival at The Borough Hall at Greenwich Dance. Crow is co-commissioned by the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London 2012 Festival.

Mythic and elemental; TEd Hughes' Crow is at once comic, bleak and beautiful, evoking a world at odds with itself. The central crow character is a scavenger, a collector, a scientist and an innocent, full of anarchic energy and violent comedy. With this irrepressible life, Hughes created a hungry chaos of feathers and dark dreams, a mythic everyman wondering how to fit into life.

TEd Hughes, British Poet Laureate from 1984 to 1998, is recognised as one of the 20th century's greatest poets. Crow, published in 1970, is one of his darkest and most personal works, which he called 'his masterpiece'. In it he shaped a language and form of volcanic intensity to capture what has been described as 'the liveness of nature and the crow-ness of the Crow'.

Handspring combine their ingenious puppet designs with the choreography of Place Prize 2011 winner Ben Duke of Lost Dog dance company, to create a dance theatre performance of this extraordinary work. Handspring Puppet Company have been creating groundbreaking theatre with puppets for over 30 years. Their critically acclaimed work with The National Theatre's production of War Horse has been seen by millions and won many awards for both the West End and Broadway productions.

Greenwich+Docklands International Festival is London's ambitious annual festival of outdoor arts and spectacle, which presents a programme of world-class performances over ten days each summer. Whilst until now all events have been free and outdoors, this year, GDIF sets out to break down walls between building based theatre and street arts and with Crow the visceral spirit of the outdoors will be brought inside a building for the first time.

The production is suitable for 14 years and over. For further information, please visit www.greenwichfestivals.co.uk.

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