Following a solid sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe, the multi-award winning theatre-maker’s depiction of the life of a city at the brink of an apocalypse embarks on a UK tour 22 February – 10 June 2017
This compelling new performance written and performed by Kieran Hurley (Beats, Chalk Farm, Hitch) and co-directed by Alex Swift (Caroline Horton’s Mess) and Julia Taudevin (Blow Off, Chalk Farm) weaves a picture of a familiar city at its moment of destruction, asking what we would do if we found ourselves at the end of our world as we know it. The performance intertwines the stories of starkly different modern lives: a teenage girl who boils up in rage in a toilet cubicle; a finance worker who preaches doom in a busy train station; an absurd coke-addled celebrity who races through town on a mission and a paranoid stoner who stares blankly at the endless disasters on the TV news. In just one moment all their worlds will end.
Writer and performer Kieran Hurley said: “Heads Up is about living in a world built on disaster. It’s about how we make sense of our lives in the context of global catastrophe; economic, environmental and humanitarian. It’s difficult to say what the impulse behind making it is, beyond needing to deal with the feeling of incredible anxiety I sometimes have when reading the news. There are some jokes too though, don’t worry. It bears a clear relationship to some of my previous work if you liked that, but it’s also unlike anything I’ve made before. I’m trying out some entirely new approaches as a performer, through a really innovative sound design by Michael John McCarthy which I’ll be controlling and operating from the stage.”
Kieran Hurley is an award-winning playwright, performer, and theatre maker based in Glasgow, whose work has been performed throughout the UK and internationally. He makes work that is experimental and innovative but accessible, for a wide audience. Sometimes he writes words for other people to perform, sometimes he tells stories to an audience himself. Often he collaborates with creatives in other fields including live bands, DJs, and audio-visual artists. Past work includes Hitch, Beats, Chalk Farm, and Rantin. Beats received the Best New Play award at the Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland 2012, and Kieran was nominated for Best Solo Performer on the Fringe at the Stage Awards 2012.
www.showandtelluk.com
Tron Theatre
63 Trongate, Glasgow, G1 5HB
Wednesday 22 February 2017 (as part of TAKE ME SOMEWHERE, a new citywide festival of contemporary performance that builds on the legacy of The Arches arts programme)
7.45pm | £14 (£10)
Tickets: 0141 552 4267 | www.tron.co.uk
Traverse Theatre (Traverse 2)
10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh, EH1 2ED
Thursday 23 – Saturday 25 February 2017
Post show discussion: Thursday 23 Feb 2017
8pm | £16.50 (£13.50/£8.50)
Tickets: 0131 228 1404 | www.traverse.co.uk
Crewe Axis Arts Centre
Cheshire Campus, Manchester Metropolitan University, Crewe Green Rd
Crewe, CW1 5DU
Thursday 2 March 2017
7.30pm | £8 (£5)
Tickets: 0843 2080 500 | www.axisartscentre.org.uk
Dundee Rep Theatre
Tay Square, Dundee, DD1 1PB
Tuesday 14 March 2017
7.30pm | £14
Tickets: 01382 223530 | www.dundeerep.co.uk
Crucible Theatre (Studio Theatre)
55 Norfolk Street, Sheffield, S1 1DA
Thursday 16 March 2017
7.45pm | £12
Tickets: 0114 249 6000 | www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
Battersea Arts Centre
Lavender Hill, London, SW11 5TN
Monday 20 – Saturday 25 March 2017 | £10 (all tickets)
Monday 27 March – Saturday 1 April 2017 | £12.50 (£10)
8pm
Tickets: 020 7223 2223 | www.bac.org.uk
Oxford Playhouse
Oxford Burton Taylor Studio, 11 – 12 Beaumont Street, Oxford, OX1 2LW
Monday 3 April 2017
8pm | £10
Tickets: 01865 305305 | www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Marlborough Theatre
4 Prince’s Street, Brighton, BN2 1RD
Tuesday 4 April 2017
8pm | £12 (£10)
Tickets: 01273 570028 | www.marlboroughtheatre.org.uk
South Street Arts Centre
21 South Street, Reading, RG1 4QU
Wednesday 5 April 2017
8pm | £12 (£10)
Tickets: 0118 960 6060 | www.readingarts.com/south-street
Northern Stage
Barras Bridge, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RH
Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 April 2017
7.45pm | £10 (£8)
Tickets: 0191 230 5151| www.northernstage.co.uk
HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, Manchester, M15 4FN
Thursday 18 – Saturday 20 May 2017
7pm (Thu & Fri) // 2.15pm & 7.45pm (Sat only) | £10 (£8)
Tickets: 0161 200 1500 | www.homemcr.org
ARC, Stockton Arts Centre
Dovecot Street, Stockton on Tees, TS18 1LL
Thursday 8 June 2017
7pm | Pay what you decide
Tickets: 01642 525199 | www.arconline.co.uk
