DEEPFAKE by Jess & Morgs to Make World Premiere at Sadler's Wells East

Award-winning directors and choreographers Jess & Morgs (Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple) will present their first work as an independent company with the world premiere of DEEPFAKE at Sadler's Wells East, running Thursday 1 – Saturday 3 October 2026.

Following major commissions for the Paris Opera Ballet and Scottish Ballet, including their Coppélia reimagining, which won the 2023 UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance and the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography, the duo present their most ambitious work to date. Combining dance, film, and chroma-screen technology, DEEPFAKE interrogates contemporary uncertainty and the collapsing notion of objective truth.

The work centres on a high-stakes television interview between a politician and a political journalist. Created in collaboration with writer Jeff James, with set and costume design by Milla Clarke and video design by Dan Light, the stage is divided between a physical green-screen studio and a digitally projected world. As the conversation unfolds, live camera operators work in real time to layer performers into constantly shifting virtual environments, becoming a metaphor for half-truths and lies, playfully and absurdly revealing the mechanics of manipulation in plain sight.

Working at the intersection of technology and dance, Jess & Morgs bring a distinct perspective to a form that remains largely male-dominated. They first met while studying at Central School of Ballet and have continued to explore the contemporary possibilities of a classical art form and collaborated with students of Central in this production. DEEPFAKE was originally conceived and developed at Dance East's Green-Screen studio with major support from the Jerwood Foundation. The show will preview at Dance East (25 Sep) ahead of the London World Premiere.

 

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