October 2020
Commissioned Theatre (Covid19 Special)
Premiered October 2020
(in association with Boundless Theatre)
October 2020 was originally commissioned and produced by the Boundless Theatre as part of an upcoming series of cold-reads which mark important global events.
Created by award winning theatre maker Nassim Soleimanpour and 7 powerful writers, Boundless will send fifty Signal Fires to young adults across the UK. Arriving in a sealed envelope and opened by the audience fireside, storytelling rituals are reborn.
This is a show that needs no rehearsal and where the audience is the performer. Once you receive your box, you will build a fire, open the envelope and begin reading aloud from the book. There are eight stories that will come to life between the reader and audience. Settle down for the night and read them all or pick one or two, whatever you like. You could choose a different reader for each story, or have one storyteller all night long.
In October and November, fires will light up across the UK with storytellers and audiences sharing in one of the original forms of theatre. The fires will signal the vibrancy of touring theatre, and the threat our industry continues to face.
From spectacular bonfires to digital blazes; the nation’s leading touring theatre companies will present a series of theatrical events at locations across the UK in celebration of our fundamental need to tell stories.
The companies will be working with hundreds of UK freelancers. Each fire will span different disciplines reflecting the breadth and diversity of the touring circuit. All fires will be presented outdoors in front of socially distanced live audiences, or digitally for those who are shielding or currently unable to travel.
Companies involved are: 45North, Arcade, Beyond Face, Big Telly, Boundless, Eastern Angles, English Touring Theatre, Fen in association with Out of Joint, Fuel, Graeae, Headlong, Kestrel Theatre Company, Kneehigh, Macha Productions, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, New Perspectives, Pentabus, Pilot, Paines Plough, SBC Theatre, Scottish International Storytelling Festival, Slung Low, Spare Tyre, The Lord Chamberlain’s Men and Yellow Earth Theatre (with more to be announced).