The Belgrade Theatre is looking for a local choir and cyclists for upcoming self-sustaining production of A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction.
The Belgrade Theatre is searching for a local choir and cyclists to take part in their upcoming production of A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction, a co-production between Headlong and the Barbican, in partnership with The Belgrade, which will play in The Belgrade’s B2 auditorium from Wednesday 10 – Saturday 13 May. Miranda Rose Hall’s darkly funny, life-affirming one-woman show will be a bold experiment in eco theatre-making, and will be directed by local director Nyasha Gudo (Associate Director on Birmingham REP’s Spitting Image and Birmingham Hippodrome’s To The Streets) and star local performer and former Belgrade participant Kimisha Lewis (I Ain’t Dumb, Noughts and Crosses) as Naomi.
“The difference between death and extinction is this: death is to cease to exist. Extinction is to extinguish. I think of death as individual. Extinction is collective.”
Naomi is part of a theatre company who have made a play, especially for you, those living through extinction, but the actors haven’t shown up yet. In the meantime, Naomi has a plan.
This innovative one-woman show takes us on a life-changing journey to confront the urgent ecological disaster that is unfolding around us. Part ritual, part battle cry, and powered entirely by bicycles, this fiercely feminist off-grid production is a moving exploration of what it means to be human in an era of man-made extinction.
The Belgrade hosts part of this journey where in each city a blueprint of the show will be uniquely brought to life by a different team of theatre makers in an innovative touring model which sees a play tour, while the people do not. It forms part of a ground-breaking international experiment in reimagining theatre in a climate crisis.
The production is an experimental, self-sustainable show, which will have a choir powering the music for the show, and cyclists providing the energy. To fulfil this aim, the Belgrade is reaching out for a local community choir to join the production to rehearse and perform the music of the production alongside keen cyclists, who will ride a stationary bike on stage for 60 minutes to power the entire production. The team is seeking four cyclists per show, for a performance schedule of six shows.
For more information or to apply the contact address is Communityadmin@belgrade.co.uk with an email containing the title “Play for a Living Cyclist”. Participants must be able to commit to the show dates and to have the ability to rehearse the songs for the show (provided by The Belgrade) in their own time. All participants involved in this project must be over the age of 16.