Yve Blake & Co. are delighted to announce that THEN will play a limited season at Soho Theatre Upstairs this July. The show, which has been co-created with the internet, has already seen a phenomenal response from sell out audiences at Battersea Arts Centre, the Vault Festival and Australia New Zealand Festival of Art & Literature.
In 2013 Yve Blake dared the world to anonymously donate their memories at WhoWereWe.com in the form of stories, voicemails, pictures and playlists. 5 to 95 year olds from 154 international cities have unearthed tales in which their past selves play the lead, and shared these with Yve and the internet. Using handcrafted music and spectacular visuals, Yve brings this ever-growing collection of histories to life onstage, taking the audience on a journey through those hazy memories of childhood, teenage years, middle and old age. Heart-warming and hilarious in equal parts, it explores relationships, those funny stories that ‘could only happen to you’ but in fact are universal, and celebrates the idiots, strangers and heroes that we used be.
Having engaged a community online, the show invites these anonymous contributors to step out of the internet and into the theatre where they can see their memories brought to life in living colour. Yve Blake says “most people spend more of their time sitting on the internet than sitting in theatres, so I built WhoWereWe.com as a way of reaching out to an unlimited audience on their ‘home turf’. This show has the potential to introduce live performance to a new audience and I’m looking forward to sharing this collaborative labour of love with a crowd of new faces.”
A Sydney-born, London-based maker of theatre, music and online experiences, Yve Blake makes her work in collaboration with her audience. Yve’s previous solo piece Am I Good Friend (“high energy, hilarity and sly insight” **** Time Out) toured in Australia and she has presented work at The Bush Theatre, Roundhouse, Arts Admin, The National Theatre, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney) and World Stage Design 2013 (Cardiff). Also a published and award winning playwright, Yve is about to become the youngest playwright ever produced by MKA Theatre of New Writing in Melbourne Australia. (Her play ’Sugar Sugar’ will make it’s world premiere there in June)
Listings Information:
Theatre: Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE
Dates: 8 – 13 July 2014
Performances: Tue – Sun, 7pm. Matinees: Sat, 3.15pm. Sun, 5.15pm.
Prices: Tue 8 £10. Thereafter: £15 (£12.50)
Box Office: 020 7478 0100
