National Theatre Wales and Quarantine will work together for the first time to stage a brand-new show called English, in June 2018 at Cardiff’s Dance House, as part of Festival of Voice 2018.
English invites its audience into a conversation with performer Jonny Cotsen (Louder Is Not Always Clearer), inspired by language lessons and conversations with migrants in Wales and across the UK who learn English, whether for business, for pleasure, to study or for survival. A joyous, intimate, provocative encounter, English asks how language shapes us all, and what happens to our sense of self when we learn a new language, and don’t really know how to say who we are.
This exuberant A to Z of language and identity – made in bilingual Wales, but with a global perspective – will pull apart pop songs, tear grammar to pieces and invite all the languages in the room to be heard.
Director Richard Gregory is an artist based in Manchester. He is co-Artistic Director (with Renny O’Shea) of Quarantine, since 1998. Richard has developed a distinctive practice around both intimate and epic responses to everyday life and the commonplace. Richard has directed or co-directed 26 projects and productions for Quarantine. Currently a Visiting Fellow at Northumbria University, Richard was Associate Director at Contact, Manchester (1991-1995) and Northern Stage, Newcastle upon Tyne (1995-1998), and Associate Artist at Leicester Haymarket Theatre (2002-2003). He recently directed What Is the City but the People?, the opening event for Manchester International Festival 2017.
Performer Jonny Cotsen was born in Cardiff, a profoundly deaf man in a hearing world. Jonny is a qualified graphic designer and teacher but has left his professional career to develop himself as a performance artist, drama facilitator and consultant for inclusion in the arts. Jonny also runs inclusive drama workshops and training for people with and without disabilities, and is a trustee for Disability Arts Cymru. His performing credits include: solo show Louder Is Not Always Clearer (Mr & Mrs Clark, touring). Ways Of Being Together (Jo Fong), Cardiff: City Road Stories (Sherman Theatre) and Confessions (Theatre Versus Oppression).
National Theatre Wales & Quarantine present
ENGLISH
with Wales Millennium Centre
Part of Festival of Voice 2018
Performer: Jonny Cotsen
Director: Richard Gregory
Dramaturg: Renny O'Shea
Text/Collaborating Artist: Sonia Hughes
Designer: Simon Banham
Lighting Designer: Mike Brookes
Movement Director: Jo Fong
Emerging Director: Chelsey Gillard
Dates: 14-16& 20-24 June 2018 – 7pm
17 & 23 June 2018 – 2pm
Location: The Dance House, Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Place, Cardiff Bay, CF10
Box Office
Online: nationaltheatrewales.org/english
By phone: 029 2037 1689
Tickets: £11.25-£15
Follow English on Twitter:
#NTWEnglish
@ntwtweets
@QtineMcr
National Theatre Wales has been making English-language productions in locations all over Wales, the UK, internationally and online since March 2010. It operates from a small base in Cardiff’s city centre, but works all over the country and beyond, using Wales’ rich and diverse landscape, its towns, cities and villages, its incredible stories and rich talent as its inspiration. National Theatre Wales is supported by the Welsh Government and the Arts Council of Wales. nationaltheatrewales.org
“If you’re looking for something completely different, National Theatre Wales can be guaranteed to deliver it.” The Guardian
Quarantine was formed in 1998 by artists Simon Banham, Richard Gregory and Renny O’Shea. Over the past 19 years, the Manchester-based company have developed an international reputation for their pioneering work in re-shaping who gets seen and heard in performance and are widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading contemporary theatre companies. Working with a shifting constellation of collaborators, the company makes theatre and other public events that are characterised by their intimacy, fragility and a playful instinct to place everyday life side-by-side with moments of rare, crafted beauty. Quarantine work with virtuosic performers and with people who have never done anything like this before – electricians, philosophers, families, soldiers, chefs, children, florists, opera singers and countless others. qtine.com
Wales Millennium Centre is the nation's home for the performing arts, situated at the heart of Cardiff Bay. One of the UK's top cultural attractions, the Centre showcases Welsh creativity and talents, provides an extensive programme of world class entertainment, partners with international artistic companies, and offers creative learning opportunities that aim to increase accessibility to art and culture.
Created by Wales Millennium Centre, Festival of Voice Cardiff is an international arts festival that celebrates the voice in all its forms. Festival of Voice is about discovery through participation and immersion – about finding voices; bringing artists and audiences together to hear and be heard. The festival commissions new work and brings together unique collaborations in contemporary and classical music, opera, theatre, talks and visual art.
