By Thomas O’Connell (performer)
At the start at the rehearsals we had little information about where were going to be performing. Now and then Director, Frederic Wake-Walker and other members of the production team would drop a little hint…’If she wears high heels in the forest, she’ll sink’.
We now know we are performing in an old market in Brighton (part of the Brighton Festival 17 & 18 May), a forest in Norwich (part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival 20 & 21 June), a warehouse in London (Spitalfields Music Summer Festival, 13 June) and an open air stage at Latitude (12 & 14 July).
The most individual place I’ve performed in previously is in an office block. Not exciting! This is all a new experience to and one I’m looking forward to.
The piece is dark in its nature and I feel each venue will in some way will complement the piece in a new way, giving it a new dynamic which, without a doubt, will enhance our performance.
They all strike me as being ominous venues, however for me, the most exciting is probably the ‘secret forest’ as part of our performance at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Forests are fascinating places and this is a fascinating piece so I expect the two will together create a really impressive experience. I am thoroughly looking forward to this whole experience and cannot wait to perform Bow Down – hope we see you there!
Our latest blog posts:
On the origins of Bow Down
Meet the cast of Bow Down
Mana Shibata: On meeting Sir Harrison Birtwistle…
Bow Down: behind the scenes video
Finding my rythm in Bow Down
Rehearsing Bow Down: an atypical process
Going beyond the music with Bow Down
Bow Down: a special kind of fairy tale
Beyond the story: the set and locations of Bow Down
Bow Down in pictures
