21 September 2017
Newsdesk
Theatre company Raucous will be transforming disused Edwardian a swimming bath into the snow covered streets of Leningrad for Ice Road – their second production following the acclaimed The Stick House.
Set in 1942, during the siege of Leningrad and in the coldest winter in living memory, Ice Road harnesses Russian folktale and survivor accounts to tell a story of the children that war leaves behind.
In the wreckage of an old apartment block, four orphans are compelled to join forces to survive the murderous Leningrad blockade. Through a cruel winter, enemy shelling and gnawing hunger, Leah, Zoya, Tati and Kub fantasise of escape on the only road out of the city – the ice road.
Leah has a secret that she can’t share with the three feral orphans she has adopted on the snow-covered streets of Leningrad. Every night she has to leave them so that she can earn food, but her trust only runs so far. If she tells them where she goes and what she does then she knows they may betray her.
As the bombs rain down, the blockade bites and food becomes scarce, the four do whatever it takes to survive. But just as it looks like they might make it, the youngest, Kub, goes missing. Has he been abducted by the men in the shadows who lurk out on the street, has he succumbed to the cold, or has he finally made his escape on the fabled Ice Road…?
The Siege of Leningrad lasted for 900 days, but despite the disappearance of food and constant bombing the city did not fall. Over the frozen Lake Lagoda the citizens of Leningrad (now St Petersburg) built a treacherous road to take children out and bring food in and this was the sole means of escape – some called it the Road of Life, some the Road of Death.
A collaboration of 13 theatre makers, film-makers, scientists, digital technologists and composers, Raucous forges new ways of thinking about how theatre is made, driven by a desire to heighten the experience for an audience so that it is more immersive, immediate and emotive. We want to harness digital technology as a new tool for making theatre more vital, vibrant and visceral.
Ice Road places the audience firmly at the heart of the play, giving them a part to play and technology of their own.
The production has a mesmerising original score written by Timothy X Atack, inspired by Shostakovich No.7 (written for Leningrad), and is designed by the award-winning international opera designer, Conor Murphy.
Raucous’ creative advisers are Tom Morris, Artistic Director at Bristol Old Vic and director of the internationally acclaimed War Horse and Laura Marshall, Managing Director of Icon Films. The organisation is partnered with Watershed, the leading film culture and digital media centre in the South West, and is resident at the internationally renowned Pervasive Media Studio.
Phil Gibby, Area Director at Arts Council South West says;
“Raucous is an exciting collective creating ambitious live performance… we believe creative partnerships are key to the success of artistic adventures and so we’re delighted that Raucous are creating this new show in collaboration with Artspace Lifespace, Pervasive Media Studio, Bristol Old Vic and Watershed.
Sarah Ellis, Digital Producer at the Royal Shakespeare Company said about Raucous’ last show, The Stick House;
“In this site specific production, Sharon Clark’s rich and beautifully constructed narrative moves its audiences through the story with traditional stage craft, new technologies and carefully curated direction. She blends the collective and individual theatrical experience resulting in a superb use and integration of technology which supports a narrative and allows the audience to hold the story.”
Written by Sharon Clark
Produced by Emily Williams
Communications by Claire Skelcey
Directed by Kate Hewett
Designed by Conor Murphy
Lighting by Ben Pacey
Music and Sound by Timothy X Atack
Creative technology by Tom Metcalfe
Projection Mapping by Limbic Cinema
Film by Jack Offord
Production by Dave Wilkie/Jessica Noakes
2 October – 19 November 207
Venue:
Jacob’s Wells Baths, Jacob’s Wells Road, Bristol, BS8 1DZ
Previews:
Mon 2 - Wed 4 Oct 2017, 6.30pm
£12
Fri 6 Oct – Sun 19 Nov:
Mon – Sat, 6.30pm & 8.30pm
Sun 19 Nov, 6.30pm & 8.30pm
£18.50/£16.50 concs
PRESS NIGHT: Thursday 5 October, 6.30pm and 8.30pm, please contact Claire@raucous.org.uk for tickets
Production times: 6.30pm and 8.30pm
Tickets - Previews: £12.00
Concessions: £16.50
Full: £18.00
Box Office: Watershed, 0117 927 5100
Website: http://www.raucous.org.uk/ice-road
Twitter/Insta: @raucouscaucous
Facebook: raucouscaucous
Biographies
Timothy X Atack – composer
Timothy X Atack is a writer, composer and sound artist working in theatre, film, television and audio. He's a co-founder of Sleepdogs and amongst others has worked with the BBC, Laura Dannequin, Alice Tatton-Brown, Edgar Wright, Neil Bartlett, Big Finish, Lucy Cassidy, Channel 4, Endemol Shine China, Tobacco Factory Theatres, Matt Lucas & David Walliams, MrUnderwood, Angeltech and North Sea Navigator. timatack.co.uk – sleepdogs.org
Kate Hewitt - director
Kate is a winner of the JMK Young Director Award, the inaugural RTST Director Award 2016, and was recently named as one of Variety magazine’s ’10 Brits to Watch in 2017’. In July 2017 she directed Nina Raine’s TRIBES at the Sheffield Crucible. Previous work includes FAR AWAY (the Young Vic), ROMEO AND JULIET (Ambassadors Theatre), PORTRAIT by Racheal Ofori (Edinburgh Festival/UK Tour/the Southbank Centre/the Bush Radar Festival), COMMENT IS FREE (Old Vic rehearsed reading), TWINS (Arcola) & was a founding member of International theatre company You Need Me (Arcola and Tobacco factory). Kate is currently Associate Director on YERMA (the Young Vic), and was Associate Director on ONE LOVE: THE BOB MARLEY MUSICAL (Birmingham Rep), and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (Theatre Royal Drury Lane). Kate has two years’ Lecoq physical theatre training from LISPA, a BA (Hons) in drama and theatre arts from Goldsmiths University London.
Limbic Cinema - projection
Limbic Cinema is a Bristol based creative projection studio. They produce moving-image content that augments reality through projection mapping and you can experience their work in many forms, from bespoke stage visuals at Glastonbury Festival, to immersive projection within promenade theatre.
Conor Murphy - designer
Conor trained at Wimbledon School of Art and completed an MA in Scenography in Utrecht.
His opera designs include Orphée et Eurydice and Powder Her Face for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La clemenza di Tito for Opera North, Lohengrin for the Royal Swedish Opera, The Turn of the Screw for the Nationale Reisopera, The Rake’s Progress for Angers-Nantes Opéra, The Rape of Lucretia for Opera Vlaanderen, Salome for Opéra National de Montpellier, Die Zauberflote and Lohengrin for the Korean National Opera and the world premières of Wake by Klaas de Vries for the Nationale Reisopera, Facing Goya by Michael Nyman in Santiago de Compostela, Die Versicherung by Jan Muller-Wieland in Darmstadt and The Country of the Blind by Mark-Anthony Turnage for ENO Contemporary Opera Studio.
Designs for theatre include The Stick House (Raucous), The Government Inspector, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Woman and Scarecrow and The Crucible (Abbey Theatre, Dublin); The Birthday Party and Juno & the Paycock (Bristol Old Vic) and Richard III (West Yorkshire Playhouse).
His dance designs include Tomorrow and Labyrinth of Love for Rambert, Carmen and Giselle for Donlon Dance Company and The Four Seasons for Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Current projects include Tristan und Isolde (Staatsoper Hannover), West Side Story (Cape Town & Johannesburg) and Tribes (Gate Theatre, Dublin).
His work has been shown at the Prague Quadrennial and at several UK, Irish and international design exhibitions. At WSD2013 in Cardiff he was awarded bronze for ‘exceptional achievement across all categories’. At the recent WSD2017 in Taipei his design for Orphée et Eurydice was awarded bronze for ‘Performance Design’ in the professional designers category.
