A woman in a sound booth is talking. She is talking to herself. She is talking to you. She is talking to everyone. She is gifted, professional, mercurial; it seems as if she can summon almost any kind of voice and create any kind of world.
She is selling you something
She is telling you a story
She sounds like a cereal ad
She sounds like a cartoon
She sounds like a meditation tape
She sounds like a shapeshifter
She sounds like the ocean
You would listen to her say anything. Her voice is all around. Her voice is all there is. Her voice is all that’s left. She conjures her own ghost in real time.
The Talent is a new show by Action Hero and Deborah Pearson about the legacy of the human voice in a non-human future.
Production Credits
Commissioned by Teatro do Bairro Alto (PT) Cambridge Junction (UK) & South Street Arts/ University of Reading (UK). With support from PACT Zollverein (DE) and Bristol Old Vic Ferment (UK). Thanks to Queen Mary University, University of Bristol and The Yard. With funding from Arts Council England.
Text: Gemma Paintin, Deborah Pearson and James Stenhouse
Direction: Deborah Pearson and James Stenhouse
Performer: Gemma Paintin
Off-stage voices: Deborah Pearson and James Stenhouse
Sound design: Yas Clarke
Lighting design: Alex Fernandes
Set Design: Camilla Clarke
Dramaturgy: Tania El Khoury
Producer for Action Hero: Sarah Warden
International touring supported by Here & Now
Performance Created in England
About the Artists
Gemma Paintin & James Stenhouse work together under the moniker Action Hero. Using this name, they collaborate to create performances, installations, social practice, audio work and more. Independence is at the heart of the company’s ethos, alongside collaboration, a commitment to artist-led spaces and methodologies, and a belief in the power of art and creativity to give shape to the human experience. As well as extensive international touring to both critical and popular acclaim, the company has received grants, fellowships, commissions and residencies worldwide.
Deborah Pearson's work spans playwrighting, directing, live art and visual art. She is founder and a co-director of UK-based curation collective Forest Fringe and winner of several distinctions for her practice and Forest Fringe, including twice being named on the Stage 100 list. Her performances have been staged in over twenty countries across five continents and translated into six languages. Her work includes The Future Show (international tour and book, 2015), History History History (bit teatergarasjen, Théâtre Garonne and international tour, 2016), Inside Bitch (The Royal Court, 2018) and The Filibuster (Somerset House and Conde Duque, 2018). She holds a PhD on narrative in contemporary performance from Royal Holloway and is an associate research fellow at Birkbeck.
- Venue: B2 Arena
- Location: Monument Building
- Ticket price: ZAR 110.00
- Programme type: Curated Programme
- Genre: Theatre
- Duration: 60 minutes
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Ages:
12+
