Travis Alabanza's OVERFLOW and Impermanence Dance Announced as Part of Bristol Old Vic's Digital Season

A new online run of the Bush Theatre's production Overflow will be presented by Bristol Old Vic from 6-8 May. Bristol theatre-maker and writer Travis Alabanza's latest play was premiered and recorded at the Bush Theatre in Dec 2020, and stars Reece Lyons as Rosie. It is a hilarious and devastating tour of women's bathrooms; who is allowed in and who is kept out.

Cornered into a flooding toilet cubicle and determined not to be rescued again, Rosie distracts herself with memories of bathroom encounters. Drunken heart-to-hearts by dirty sinks, friendships forged in front of crowded mirrors, and hiding together from trouble.

But with her panic rising and no help on its way, can she keep her head above water?

Travis is one of the UKs leading trans voices whose first play Burgerz, was performed in late 2019 in Bristol Old Vic's Weston Studio and took audiences by storm. They return to Bristol Old Vic's digital season with this "warm, funny, sympathetic" play (Pink News).

Also announced today, Bristol Old Vic and Impermanence continue their creative partnership with a new double bill of online dance work, marking Bristol's foremost Dance Company's tenth anniversary. The first release, One More Edit (running 12-24 April), is a collection of works made for film from some of the most exciting artists working in dance, from the UK and overseas. This programme of evocative and inspiring dance works is curated by Impermanence and includes up-and-coming talent, contemporary artists and iconic choreographers, including 'Edits Film' by Marisa Zanotti - a poetic document from 2014 of the final performance by Lea Anderson's all male company The Featherstonehaughs.

With costumes by three-time Oscar Winner Sandy Powell, Anderson's choreography imagines that Fassbinder's seminal film The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant is a score for the show's choreography. Tune in for a tumultuous tour through the potential that is created by combining dance and the moving image.

Lady Blackshirt is the second in the online dance programme. A new feature length experimental film from Impermanence, looking back at the growth of modernism and the accompanying radical ideologies of the early twentieth century. Born out of a research project where Impermanence commissioned 100 artists to respond to articles and extracts from early modernist magazines, the film is an abstract-dance-based-collage work, with new material filmed on the Bristol Old Vic stage during lockdown. It will join the digital stage from 10-22 May.

OVERFLOW by Travis Alabanza

ON SALE SOON
6-8 May, 7.30pm (On Demand - 24hr rental)
A Bush Theatre production filmed at the Bush Theatre in Dec 20
Presented by special arrangement by Bristol Old Vic
Tickets: Pay What You Choose £8/ £10/ £15
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/overflow

Watch the trailer!

Credits:
Reece Lyons - Cast
Annie-Lunnette Deakin Foster -Movement Director
Debbie Hannan - Director
Jess Bernberg - Lighting Designer
Max Johns -Designer
Francis Botu - Sound Designer
Writer - Travis Alabanza

ONE MORE EDIT by Impermanence

ON SALE NOW
12-25 April (On Demand film - unlimited viewing until 25 Apr)
Tickets: Pay What you Choose £6/£10/£16
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/one-more-edit

LADY BLACKSHIRT by Impermanence

ON SALE NOW

10-23 May (On Demand film - unlimited viewing until 23 May)
Tickets: Pay What you Choose £6/£10/£16
www.bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/lady-blackshirt

Roseanna Anderson and Joshua Ben-Tovim are directors, choreographers and performers, often working in partnership as Impermanence as well as individually. They set up Impermanence in 2011 with Alessandro Marzotto Levy and other graduates from the Rambert School. Its films include: Empty Stage (commissioned by Birmingham Royal Ballet) The Ballet Of The Nations (Best Art Film, New Renaissance Film Festival, Amsterdam); Feral (featuring George Monbiot and a recording by the London Symphony Orchestra of an original piece by Hollie Harding); Blast (commissioned by BBC Arts); and Park Wanderings (created during lockdown with Corali Dance Company, commissioned and exhibited by Southwark Park Galleries). Its work for the stage includes: Baal (Bristol Old Vic, The Place, Jakarta Theatre Platform); Sexbox (British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2017); Da Da Darling (international tour, listed as one of The Guardian's top 10 dance productions) and The Major Arcana (Mayfest 2020, postponed). Impermanence has been curating a programme of dance at the Bristol Old Vic since 2019.
www.impermanence.co.uk

Photo credit: Sharron Wallace

Need more UK Regional Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...