Down and Out in Paris and London, written and directed by NDT / PIT Artistic Director, David Byrne, fuses two books, written half a century apart. The first by George Orwell, which lends its title to the production, and the second, Hard Work by Polly Toynbee, a journalist and reporter for The Guardian, in which she researches minimum-wage, zero-hours contracts by living for several months as one of those reliant on them to survive.
The Heads is a new piece of work by acclaimed puppet company, Blind Summit, and this was its first outing. Although developed directly from a section of their previous work, The Table, The Heads is a departure from the narrative style and Blind Summit have to be applauded for taking risks and not sticking with a formula, especially one so successful.
The Faction produce a heady mix of classic, text-based, physical theatre which is a joy to witness. They are dedicated to producing the complete works of Schiller, but also include other classics in their repertoire, such as Chekov, Lorca, Shakespeare and Strindberg, to name but a few. But it was Schiller who drew me to the New Diorama Theatre on a cold January evening. Last year I was privileged to see The Faction’s Mary Stuart, and I had high expectations of this latest production. I was not disappointed.
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