Rave-Era Play REPETITIVE BEATS Headed to Vault Festival

Repetitive Beats, a play set during the rave era, opens in 15 days at Vault Festival. Produced By The Cockpit & Subtle Paw REPETITIVE BEATS by Kathryn Gardner will run 1 - 5 March 2017, 9PM (plus 4.15pm weekend matinees).

Oxford: A Broken City in Thatcher's Britain. A disillusioned generation. Acid house, the second summer of love, weekend after weekend of pure ecstasy. But what happens when the parties are better that the real world? And what do you do when the law says there can be no more? What's the alternative? A lager fuelled fight on the high street? A brawl in the terraces? Tiny skirts and free shots? It may be legal but it's far from better. And someone just spilt your pint...

With a live DJ and original tracks, REPETITIVE BEATS is a high octane play set in Oxfordshire during one of the most influential and hedonistic movements in modern music, between 1989 -The 2nd summer of love, and 1994 -the year of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act.

1989, affectionately known as The Second Summer Of Love, was the start of a soft revolution against Thatcher's Britain. A disillusioned youth fighting back.
Then in 1994 when the Criminal Justice act came in, finally the police had this immense power to close parties that included sounds "... characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats."

The '90s was also the height of Oxford's Town and Gown divide, resulting in wide spread crime across Oxford's estates.

Comparing drinking culture to drug culture, and comparing the social implications & assumptions of each against the background of the time, it looks at how the police handled the ever growing parties, and how the clamping down in the mid 90's may have had a direct effect on the binge drinking culture that exists today.

A frank exploration of the social significance and effects (both detrimental & positive) this era had.

REPETITIVE BEATS premiers at The Vaults in March 2017 before touring to festivals and regional spaces.

Stay & rave! On Friday 3rd & Saturday 4th of March, we'll be hosting an on-set, after show party! Join us on set for House, Techno, Trance, Breaks, Beats, and Drum and Bass from '89 - '94. Glow Sticks are optional. Shelf stacking skills essential!

In addition, The Vaults will be hosting debates in collaboration with The Institute of Ideas as part of The Cockpit's Futures Burlesque in March. (date TBC) These will also run over the summer at the festivals and regional venues we tour to.

What is the legacy of the period? Were lives protected by the ban or were the dangers of binge drinking during the ladette culture of the mid '90s, triggered by clamping down on the rave scene? And where are we now? Are the closing of Fabric & Passing Clouds an example of zealous governance? or the result of changing fashions and a 'retreat' from love'?

Rave culture is rarely explored. REPETITIVE BEATS looks at its effects on specific social groups represented by the characters & invokes the political context of the time. Seeking to inform those that missed it & remind those that remember it, we revisit the social movement that had an impact on the way we party, the music we listen to, the festivals we attend & the way we live our social lives now.

Cast: Amy Ambrose, Paul Collin-Thomas, Ian Horgan, Kathryn Gardner

Creatives: Sound Design - James Bell / Music Curation - Paul Hanford / Technical Manager - Daniel Sheehan Producer & Director - David Wybrow / Director- Meg Cavanaugh / Written by Kathryn Gardne

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Lead Performer in a Play - Top 3

1. Daniel Radcliffe - Every Brilliant Thing

27.8% of votes

2. Nathan Lane - Death of a Salesman

12.6% of votes

3. Ayo Edebiri - Proof

6.4% of votes

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