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Performance in Profile 2010 - British Council - Arts

Eileen Evans
Forced Entertainment
The Workstation
15 Paternoster Row
Sheffield S1 2BX

T +44 (0)114 279 8977
F +44 (0)114 221 2170
E eileen@forcedentertainment.com
W forcedentertainment.com

Performance in Profile links:

Dance
- Small-scale companies/artists
- Middle-scale companies
- Large-scale companies

Drama
- Small-scale companies/artists
- Middle-scale companies
- Large-scale companies

Live Art
- Live Art companies/artists

Outdoor Work
- Outdoor companies

SIZE OF COMPANY
3–13 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to large-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
General Manager
Eileen Evans

Marketing Manager
Sarah Cockburn

Administrator
Gareth James

Administrative Assistant  
Natalie Simpson

Artistic Director
Tim Etchells

Designer
Richard Lowdon

Creative Team
Robin Arthur, Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden and Terry O’Connor

ARTISTIC POLICY
Founded in 1984, Forced Entertainment is foremost amongst a group of UK artists working in contemporary performance and theatre. The group has developed a style of its own to discuss contemporary life in its joys and complexities and to explore the relationship between audience and performer. The company makes work that is engaging, challenging and surprising, and explores the possibilities of what performance might be.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
'One of the greatest British theatrical exports of the past 20 years... It is [their] ability to smash through the pretences of theatre that has kept the company ahead of the game.’ The Guardian

'Pulling the rug from under theatregoers’ feet for 20 years... confounding conventions and exploding audience expectations.’ The Times

‘A decidedly different good night out.’ The Times ()

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Performed by a team of three actors in smeared clown makeup, is about the need for knowledge, certainty and definition through language. (360 mins, audience come and go as they please, 3 on stage, 3 on the road.)

An extraordinarily intimate performance based on a project by renowned French artist Sophie Calle. About love, loss, and the stories we tell ourselves when things go wrong. (120 mins, 2 on stage, 3 on the road.)

Simple, logical, absurd, impossible and humorous by turns, is Forced Entertainment's provocative and playful new work. (75 mins, 2 on stage, 3 on the road, contains some strong language.)

A bleak and comic contemporary fable. Somewhere between the live dialogue, the recorded sound effects and the collaged images attempting to visualise the narrative, actually takes place. (80 mins, 4 on stage, 6 on the road.)

A new project from Tim Etchells. A long, free-associating monologue that explores the horror and absurdity of consciousness. (60 mins, 1 on stage, 2 on the road.)

Taking its title and part of its inspiration from explores the live relationship between a story and its public, a story and its tellers. (360 mins - audience may come and go as they please, 8 on stage, 8 on the road.)

It's bright under the lights, and hot, and frightening. Nine performers in grubby tuxedos and tarnished sequins play out a comical and disconcerting vaudeville to the strains of Japanese lounge music. (105 mins, 9 on stage, 11 on the road, contains some strong language.)

Forced Entertainment in intimate and comical mode - a playful, poignant and at times delirious look forwards to futures both possible and impossible. (70 mins, 2 on stage, 4 on the road, contains some strong language.)

WRAP-AROUND
Workshops and talks with company members can be arranged on request; educational videos, text packs, and CD-ROMs for practical work are also available.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2010 Greece, Japan, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Holland and Austria (, , , , )
2009 USA, Austria, Poland, Germany Greece, Belgium, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Portugal, France, Italy, The Netherlands ()
2008 Columbia, Sweden, Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Denmark, America, Belgium, Korea ()
2007 Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland ()

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Details on request

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