Don't Look Back
The performance takes about an hour, but in terms of impact and resonance it is transforming and timeless. (THE TIMES on ONE STEP FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK 2008).
Created in 1999 by artistic director Tristan Sharps, dreamthinkspeak interweaves live performance with film and installations to create extraordinary journeys that are ambitious in scale, visually layered and popular with audiences wherever they are performed. Previous works have taken place in a variety of physical and architectural contexts from Register House in Edinburgh, to the old Town Hall in Sibiu, Romania, to the magnificent former Treasury building in Perth, Australia.
Tristan Sharps, artistic director of dreamthinkspeak, talks about the evolution of the company and how the name "dreamthinkspeak" relates to the creation of each project. He will examine how a subtle intervention within a site can lead to a dramatic transformation of space. He will also be discussing his current project, IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE END, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. This project is a collaboration with King's and Somerset House and links together the labyrinthine basement areas of King's Engineering building with the East and West wings of Somerset House.
"dreamthinkspeak have been quietly reinventing site-specific theatre for some years now, creating walk-through shows all over the world, from a Moscow paper factory to a hotel in Kuala Lumpur". (THE INDEPENDENT)
Tristan Sharps trained at Jacques Lecoq in Paris and has worked as a theatre maker for nearly 30 years. Inspired by architecture and visual art rather than traditional theatre forms, he began creating large-scale site responsive work in 1995. He formed dreamthinkspeak in 1999, creating all of the company's work to date for over 30 different sites in the UK and internationally. These sites have varied in scale from disused warehouses in Brighton, to a former abattoir in Clerkenwell, to an underground subway in Damascus, to an empty office block in Amsterdam and a forgotten manor house in Ljubljana. His work for the company has been commissioned by Brighton Festival, The Barbican, The Royal Shakespeare Company, LIFT and a range of other festivals in the UK and beyond.
To book, go to our booking page.
Photo Gideon Mendel