Norfolk & Norwich Festival 2019 Makes First Programme Announcements - GRAVITY & OTHER MYTHS, A NIGHT WITH CHILLY GONZALES, and More!
By: Stephi Wild Nov. 07, 2018
With a full programme for 2019 set to be announced in February, Norfolk & Norwich Festival have today announced some of the first shows to go on sale for next year's Festival. The 2019 Festival will once again take place over 17 days, this year from 10 - 26 May, with artists from around the world and the region presenting a huge variety of work and events throughout the city and around the county. Last year around 60,000 people attended the Festival's multi-artform programme of music, theatre, literature, visual arts, circus, dance and outdoor arts across East England.
Adelaide based, internationally renowned contemporary circus company Gravity & Other Myths will present their multiple award-winning production A Simple Space in Norwich for the first time, having received praise and acclaim for it worldwide. The production sees seven acrobats and a live percussionist push their physical limits to create a performance that is raw, frantic and delicate to headline The Adnams Spiegeltent.
Seminal hip-hop dance company Boy Blue will present their universally acclaimed and Olivier Award-nominated Blak Whyte Gray at Norwich Theatre Royal. The powerful and political work by the company's founders is a personal response to their experiences and observations of the world.
Other productions at Norwich Theatre Royal include Moliere Award-winner Victoria Thierrée Chaplin (Le Cirque Invisible) as she brings the UK Premiere of her new production, Bells and Spells, a wonderful and strange journey following an incurable kleptomaniac. Grammy-Award winning Chilly Gonzales will present an intimate show performing pieces from his Solo Piano album cycle alongside hits and hidden surprises from his repertoire.
To celebrate award-winning theatre company Hoipolloi's 25th anniversary the Festival will present a trilogy of story-telling shows with their Artistic Director Shôn Dale-Jones (Floating, Story of a Rabbit, Things I Forgot I Remembered). Working at the forefront of artistic innovation and social change for a quarter of a century, Hoipolloi are recognised for creating highly imaginative theatre that is both touching and funny, weaving the personal and the political and inspiring audiences with work that is immediately relevant. The Festival will present The Duke - the company's hit show that is a mix of fantasy and reality, gently challenging audiences to consider their priorities in a world of crisis and polar opposition, ME & ROBIN HOOD comes from its premiere at the Royal Court and follows Shôn Dale-Jones' longstanding relationship with his favourite fictional friend. Completing the trilogy, the Festival will present a Festival commission, The Ladder, looking at the way optimism and pessimism affects how we create stories and exploring how the tales we tell influence the lives we lead.
As previously announced, Thomas Adès and Britten Sinfonia will return to Norfolk & Norwich Festival following their sell-out performance of Beethoven's Symphonies 1 & 2 in 2017 and 4 & 5 in 2018, concluding their season with a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
On the 2019 programme, Daniel Brine, Festival Director said: "I'm thrilled to be announcing some of the first productions for 2019. These are the beginnings of our plans for next year, which is shaping up to be an exciting and varied Festival and I look forward to sharing the full programme at the end of February. In the meantime, we're delighted to be working with Norwich Theatre Royal again to bring some world class acts to the city for special one nighters. Britten Sinfonia will mark the end of their Beethoven Cycle, which has been hugely successful over the past three years, and I'm delighted that we're able to welcome Hoi Polloi and Shôn Dale-Jones to Norwich with a trilogy of shows to mark a quarter of a century of one of the most dynamic creative companies working in theatre."
Norfolk & Norwich Festival shares exceptional arts experiences across East England. The Festival collaborates with artists - from down the road and around the world - to explore the unique physical and cultural identities of the city and country and to make art which is contemporary, international and audience-centred.
Full information on all Norfolk & Norwich Festival events at nnfestival.org.uk.
Gravity & Other Myths
A SIMPLE SPACE
The Adnams Spiegeltent
Wednesday 15 - Sunday 26 May
In A Simple Space seven acrobats and a live percussionist from Gravity & Other Myths push their physical limits to create a performance that is raw, frantic and delicate for The Adnams Spiegeltent headline show in 2019.
Created and performed by Gravity & Other Myths
Boy Blue
BLAK WHYTE GRAY
Norwich Theatre Royal
Tuesday 14 May, 7.30pm
Blak Whyte Gray is a fierce and affecting hip-hop dance performance reflecting Boy Blue's founders' experiences and observations of the world. The powerful choreography, resonating score and staging make it an image-rich production with political bite.
Presented in partnership with Norwich Theatre Royal. Produced by Boy Blue, co-commissioned and co-produced by the Barbican, supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
CHILLY GONZALES
Norwich Theatre Royal
Wednesday 15 May, 7.30pm
Grammy Award winning Chilly Gonzales is highly regarded for his genre-defying approach to the piano, his showmanship and collaborations with global stars. In this intimate show he performs pieces from his Solo Piano album cycle, with hits and hidden surprises from his repertoire.
BELLS AND SPELLS - UK PREMIERE
By Victoria Thierrée Chaplin
With Aurelia Thierrée
and Jaime Martinez
Norwich Theatre Royal
Friday 17 May, 7.30pm
Bells and Spells, a UK premiere from Victoria Thierrée Chaplin follows Aurelia Thierree's peculiar journey as an incurable kleptomaniac who is at the mercy of the objects that she steals. Using ethereal imagery, unpredictable props and enchanting dance, the performance blends the wonderful with the strange.
Britten Sinfonia
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NO. 9 WITH THOMAS ADÈS
Thomas Adès conductor
Saturday 25 May, 7.30pm
St Andrew's Hall
Gerald Barry The Eternal Recurrence*
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 (choral)
Claudia Boyle soprano*
Britten Sinfonia Voices
Eamonn Dougan Britten Sinfonia Voices director
Thomas Adès and Britten Sinfonia return to Norfolk & Norwich Festival, following their sell-out performance of Beethoven's Symphonies 1 & 2 in 2017 and 4 & 5 in 2018. The season concludes with Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
Amongst the finest of all symphonies, Beethoven's masterful celebration of the human race is paired in this concert with Gerald Barry's The Eternal Recurrence, a brilliant, feverish setting of texts from Nietzsche's philosophical novel, Also sprach Zarathustra.
To celebrate award-winning Hoipolloi's 25th anniversary Norfolk & Norwich Festival present a trilogy of story-telling shows. Hugh Hughes presents Shôn Dale-Jones in The Duke, ME & ROBIN HOOD and The Ladder.
THE DUKE
Wednesday 15 May, 7.30pm & Saturday 18 May, 11am
Oxfam, Magdalen Street
The Duke playfully mixes fantasy and reality, taking audiences on an imaginative and touching journey, which gently challenges us to consider our priorities in a world full of crisis.
Produced by Hoipolloi, PBJ Management, Theatre Royal Plymouth in association with The Pleasance Theatre Trust in aid of Save the Children's Emergency.
ME & ROBIN HOOD
By Shôn Dale-Jones in collaboration with Hamish Pirie
Thursday 16 May, 7.30pm & Saturday 18 May, 3pm
Shirehall Courtroom, Norwich Castle
ME & ROBIN HOOD is a show about Shôn Dale-Jones' longstanding relationship with his favourite fictional friend, questioning the value of art and the power of story while looking at the direction our world is heading in.
A Hoipolloi & Royal Court co-production in association with Pleasance, PBJ Management and Theatre Royal Plymouth.
THE LADDER
Friday 17 May, 7.30pm & Saturday 18 May, 7.30pm
Norwich Playhouse
The Ladder looks at the way optimism and pessimism affect how we create stories. It explores how the stories we tell influence the lives we lead and wonders about the stories we don't tell.
Commissioned by Norfolk & Norwich Festival, in association with Theatre Royal Plymouth. Supported by Cambridge Junction.
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