Description
Love and Not Knowing celebrates more than twenty-five years of the work of Fevered Sleep, the UK-based performance company founded and led by co-artistic directors Sam Butler and David Harradine.
Fevered Sleep creates projects for adults and children that manifest in multiple forms and are as likely to be located in a gallery, a care home or a shopping centre as in a theatre. Nothing that Fevered Sleep does is ever just one thing: what might start out as an installation by day turns to a performance at night – a live event then remembered in another form, like a book. An improvised dance, over many hours, creates a photographic exhibition. A theatre work is re-imagined for screen. A question, a frustration, a feeling, leads to a gathering with more people (and sometimes animals), more questions, on streets, around a market stall, in a veterinary school, by the sea or in a forest. Love and Not Knowing is therefore not only about Fevered Sleep but is – in itself – a work by Fevered Sleep, a manifestation of Fevered Sleep and a part of the ever-evolving, open whole that is Fevered Sleep.
The six chapters of the book bring together a range of different voices from people with differing relationships to and perspectives on the company and their processes. They draw upon distinct memories, moments and projects to explore core themes that have continued to run through Fevered Sleep’s work over time: On Place, On Young People and Children, On Animals, On Care, On Being Together and On Love and Not Knowing. The result is a constellation of diverse voices, practices and experiences that illuminate the deeply researchful – and deeply felt – nature of the company’s work. Their reflections offer the reader a rich tapestry of material that unfolds Fevered Sleep’s practice and the ways in which their projects open out new ways of seeing and being in the world, with curiosity, compassion, care, love and not knowing.
‘Fevered Sleep makes work that matters, work that redefines how we make theatre with (rather than for) audiences. Its participatory model provides ways of thinking about how theatre operates and the role it occupies in an ever-changing society. This book offers a remarkable insight into what Fevered Sleep does and how they do it, from a range of participants and partners. It’s a window into the company’s work and a series of reflections on their process of making – thoughtful, perceptive and original.’
Professor Maria Delgado – Vice Principal, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
‘From inviting the weather to take over a house in North Wales, to opening a shop for those who are grieving, Fevered Sleep’s work has always involved extraordinary leaps of the imagination, and questions as to the nature of perception. It is a joy to open a book that asks big questions inspired by this leap-taking work, and that asks those questions in such a joyous, open way. Fevered Sleep’s creations have always asked what we choose to notice and why – inviting us to pay attention differently and to different things. This book continues the company’s work – surprising us in how it asks, how it observes and what it brings to light.’
John McGrath – Artistic Director, Factory International
Contents
Introduction
Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca and Luke Pell
‘Because we’ve never arrived’
Sam Butler and David Harradine in conversation with Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca
Gravity and Time
A project in seven parts, created by Sam Butler and David Harradine
different skies
(on PLACE)
Strange Constellations: Five observations on time, change and attention in Fevered Sleep
Synne Behrndt and Wahida Khandker
Reflections on Ecology, Nature and Climate in the Work of Fevered Sleep
Ruth Little and Lisa Woynarski
On Place: A response
Hansjörg Schmidt, Laura Cubitt and Matt Burman
why can’t you see me?
(on YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHILDREN)
The Moon on a Pillow: Play, creativity and risk in Fevered Sleep’s theatre for children
Lyn Gardner and Louisa Davies
Growing Sideways: Collaborating with teenagers
Adele Senior with Sorrel Barnes and Zina Abaraonye
On Young People and Children: A response
Zaynah Alom, Sarah Carvalho, Maya Demetriou, Pebbles Doughty-White, Orlando Gangbo, Emre Gunes, Simeon Ndu-Seba, Stella Nodine, Angel Roach, Reggie Roberts, Teah Tournier Winchester, Minnie Trottford and Marcel Winter, Mariam Rezaei, Eddie Nixon
Learning from Each Other: A reflection on Men & Girls Dance
A conversation between Nathan Goodman, Sakeema Crook and Bakani Pick-Up with Luke Pell
a pig, a dog and a polar bear
(on ANIMALS)
Performing Knowledge as Interspecies Encounter: Sheep Pig Goat and the ethics of attention
Laura Cull Ó Maoilearca with Akshay Sharma
One an(d)Other: Two reflections on Sheep Pig Goat
Alan McElligott and Ruth Little
making space for each other
(on CARE)
Being in Touch: Reaching through and with the work of Fevered Sleep
Luke Pell and Daniela Perazzo
‘This is what the world needs’. This Grief Thing
Natalie Chen, Linda Machin, Will Daddario and Joanne Zerdy
On Care: A response
Kip Johnson, Petra Söör and Catherine Long
talking, laughing, thinking, crying
(on BEING TOGETHER)
There is no Formula: What happens when you place participation at the heart of your work?
Susanne Burns with artists, producers, presenters, audiences, participants, academics, commentators and funders
It’s OK for Me to Do That
A conversation between Grief Gathering hosts Dan de la Motte, Deepa Shastri and Lou Robbins with Luke Pell
On Being Together: A response
Rose Kigwana, Luke Pell and Ushi Bagga
on love and not knowing
Paying Attention or, if You’re Up for That, You’re Going to Have Some Remarkable Adventures: Producing Fevered Sleep
A conversation between Sophie Eustace, Louise Blackwell and Louisa Borg- Costanzi Potts with Luke Pell
On Love and Not Knowing: A response
Rosie Stanbury, Paul Russ and Rayvenn Shaleigha D’Clark
Timeline
Contributors’ Biographies
Select Bibliography
