THE CLOD ENSEMBLE

SIZE OF COMPANY
Varies

SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to middle-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Artistic Director
Suzy Willson

Artistic Director/Music
Paul Clark

General Manager
Anneliese Graham

Producer
Louise Blackwell at Fuel

Administrator
Christina Elliot at Fuel

ARTISTIC POLICY
The Clod Ensemble creates theatre, music and performance events, workshops and courses in London, the UK and internationally.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘The Clod Ensemble is one of those highly inventive and anarchic companies thrusting its way through traditional boundaries of drama.’ The Guardian

‘The winning combination of music (composed by Paul Clark) and experimental physical theatre (directed by Suzy Willson) has made them pioneers of contemporary music theatre, taking them into new territories, often in collaboration with other artists and disciplines.’ Total Theatre

‘It was the kind of absurd, inspired happening that makes the city come alive. Keep an eye out.’ The Guardian (Red Ladies)

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Under Glass A series of performance pieces, which take place within glass boxes and jars. Commissioned by Sadler’s Wells, can be performed individually or as a series in gallery or theatre spaces. (Number on the road varies.)

Red Ladies A site-specific chorus piece featuring 18 identically dressed women,  which starts in the streets of a city before moving to an “encampment” in a theatre. (90 mins, 22 on the road.)

Greed Inspired by the silent melodrama of 1920s cinema and the slapstick of Keaton and Chaplin. No spoken text. Features an original score for piano. (60 mins, no interval, 3 on stage, 6 on the road.)

The Silver Swan An “installation concert” for seven unaccompanied female choral singers. Ideally suited to non-theatre spaces. Can play several times in one evening. (20 mins, 7 on stage, 11 on the road.)

FUTURE PRODUCTION
Must A collaboration with US performer Peggy Shaw (Split Britches), Must is a poetic look at what it feels like to have a body. It excavates the memories and images contained in the joints and layers of bone. To be performed in theatres and anatomy theatres. (60 mins, 1 on stage, 3 on the road.)

WRAP-AROUND
Workshops, education projects and residencies in music, covering theatre, movement, devising non-text-based theatre, and non-verbal communication skills. The company also runs a project that uses arts in medical education, which can be visited at: www.performingmedicine.com. All education work is inspired by the teaching of Jacques Lecoq.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2004 Armenia, Bulgaria, Ireland, Sri Lanka (Greed), Taiwan (It’s a small house and we lived in it always), Thailand (Greed)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
All available throughout 2008