Stage: Dome of discovery
Transport and Volcano present innovative and exciting reinterpretations at the Dome
In the heart of Brighton is an arts complex that for too long has struggled with an identity crisis. Housed in a set of buildings that carry more listings than the leaning tower of Pisa, it was hardly any wonder that from the outside there was little visible evidence of the wide range of cultural events that were happening inside.
But now, after a serious and very stylish rebrand, all seems to be changing and at last we can see what is happening inside. It is also worth noting that the same team that create the sensational Brighton Festival programme also book the rest of the year. This means that we get a rich and diverse range of arts events of the same calibre, through the year and not just in May – and at pretty impressive prices too, especially for theatre. Here are two highlights from the autumn season.
Transport, the critically acclaimed Folkstone-based theatre company behind Invisible, 1001 Nights, Elegy and Europe will present an innovative and visceral new production of Shakespeare’s age-old romantic comedy at Brighton Dome this November.
A vibrant, touching, and timely story about love and statelessness, As You Like It examines human capacity to endure. Rosalind, the daughter of an exiled leader, falls in love with Orlando. Separately the two are banished from their homeland by Rosalind’s dictator uncle. In the wild depths of the forest they find unexpected freedom and are reunited with friends and family.
Using theatre to examine a complex subject, director Douglas Rintoul researched experiences of exile and identity, working with asylum seekers and migrants from India, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In this new adaptation, Rintoul underpins Shakespeare’s classic English text with references to contemporary political exile, offering audiences new perspectives on the play, our own society and the wider world.
As You Like It Brighton Dome Corn Exchange Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 November 7.30pm (Sat) & 7pm (Sun), £14/£12/£10 under 26s
Just when you thought that Carroll’s singular classic couldn’t get any more bizarre and beautiful, Swansea-based theatre company Volcano decides to plunge down the rabbit-hole and drink all the potions they can lay their hands on.
Alice in Wonderland is about what the behaviour of one generation looks like through the eyes of another. In this version the strangeness of the world Alice encounters is not removed from everyday reality but deeply rooted in the insanities of our culture and society.
Just as Charles Dodgson’s novel responded to the rapacious demands of capitalism and its rapid social transformations of Victorian society by looking at it through the eyes of a child, so Volcano looks at the world anew through Alice’s eyes and regards it with a mixture of fascination, horror and humour.
A 21st-century asylum, filled with Ambition, Distraction, Uglification and Derision. This new production by the company who have been making ‘brave, stupid and beautiful’ productions for over 25 years is an intriguing match for Lewis Carroll’s story of the threshold between childhood and adulthood. Fascinatingly, Alice is not played by a young girl, instead the role will be taken on by 67 year old Jenny Runacre, best known for her TV appearance in Brideshead Revisited and the films Jubilee and The Witches.
Volcano presents Alice in Wonderland, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 October 2013
7.30pm £14 / £12 / £10 under 26s
