THEATRE O

SIZE OF COMPANY
6–12 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small-, middle- and large-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Artistic Director
Joseph Alford

Artistic Director
Carolina Valdés

Producer
Simon Zimmerman

ARTISTIC POLICY
Theatre O has been creating original work on an international platform, since 2000. The company’s aim is to make inspiring, visceral and imaginatively potent theatre, for the diverse audiences of today. Combining text, action, music, rhythm, sound and dance, the company searches for the ideal theatrical representation of the human story; lifting productions out of the theatre and into the realms of the imagination.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘Theatre O had me lost in admiration.' The Times (3 Dark Tales)

‘A magnetic mix of surrealism and sensitivity, exaggerated physicality and emotional finesse.' The Independent (The Argument)

‘Astronaut is a beauty.' Time Out

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
3 Dark Tales (a tragic-comedy in 3 movements) With Keatonesque slapstick, Marx Brothers-ish filmic hyperbole, big dance numbers and language as never heard before, 3 Dark Tales presents the interwoven, darkly comedic stories of three office colleagues whose lives are in the advanced stages of disintegration. (100 mins, 4 on stage, 7 on the road.)

The Argument (a family portrait) About family loss, the death of a mother and the effect on those that remain, an optometrist who cannot see, a radio announcer incapable of communication, an auctioneer who will not listen and an air stewardess desperate to provide love, support and light refreshment in three languages. (90 mins, 4 on stage, 7 on the road.)

Astronaut (a domestic odyssey) The story of an awakening, of exploring universes, of discovery, adventure and other activities for the living room. This is the story of X, an astronaut who never goes to space. (90 mins, 4 on stage, 8 on the road.)

FUTURE PRODUCTION
Delirium Theatre O and Enda Walsh’s free and outrageous adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov. Delirium is an exhilarating plunge into a darkly male world in which intellect battles passion, sons battle their fathers and the line between comedy and tragedy is all but invisible. It’s about our struggle to survive in a world losing its moral and ethical boundaries and how the actions of the fundamentalist threaten to overthrow the established order, heralding an era where everything is permitted. (150 mins, 7 on stage, 11 on the road.)

WRAP-AROUND
Theatre O’s workshops aim to re-empower the actor by putting him/her at the centre of the creative process. By taking simple stories, Theatre O examines the essential elements that make it possible for us to interpret these narratives and moments in an exciting, imaginative and theatrical way. Workshops can also take the form of residencies of up to a month. They involve a much more in depth investigation of the creative process and the development of the actor as creator.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2004 Hong Kong, Mexico, USA (The Argument)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Delirium available from April 2008 (limited availability until 2009)
The Argument, 3 Dark Tales and Astronaut available from 2009