New show at the Lyric from hip-hop theatre pioneer Benji Reid
Leo Kay’s first show from his newly established physical performance company Madrugada fuses text, dance theatre, sound and a striking set by surreal puppeteers Faulty Optic to tell the story of self-proclaimed architect Mr Sole Abode. Unable to function under the stresses and strains of contemporary society, he chooses to opt out of a life valued by possessions and live in a fridge instead.
Directed by B-boy and hip-hop theatre pioneer Benji Reid, the story is inspired by Ben Okri’s bestseller The Famished Road, Richard Linklater’s film Waking Life and writings by David Bohm on fragmentation and quantum physics. Through stories past and present, Mr Sole Abode reveals the patchwork quilt of his rich and tangled life, raising fundamental questions surrounding perception and sanity.
Leo Kay is a dance theatre performer, teacher and choreographer who previously worked with Kaos Theatre and has performed with the Royal National Theatre (His Dark Materials) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His directorial and choreographic experience includes Gentleman Of Krakov, (Dublin 1998) and Beyond words (Salvador Brazil 2002). He has created and produced two dance theatre solos and performed variations of these shows at Almeida Dance Festival, Resolutions at The Place, WAC 25th Anniversary Festival, Oval House Theatre, and BAC October Fest 2004.
Benji Reid is a creative producer, devisor and director. Trained as a dancer at Northern School of Contemporary Dance, an actor with Philippe Gaullier and Double Edge Theatre, he has had an extensive and varied career as a freelance performer. Following the success of his productions such as B Like Water and 13 Mics Benji formed his own company Breaking Cycles, whose new production Clockwork is currently showing at the Royal National Theatre.
Founded in 1987, Faulty Optic produce a mixture of non-verbal drama, surreal imagery, mechanical theatre and animated objects and figures.
February 16, 2007
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