PRESS RELEASE: GULBENKIAN ARTS CENTRE CANTERBURY PRESENTS BOLD NEW WORK IN 2023-4

[Jan McNulty]

 

 

Press Release - Wednesday 2 August 2023 

 

GULBENKIAN ARTS CENTRE (CANTERBURY) PRESENTS BOLD NEW WORK IN 2023-4 

 

Artistic Director David Sefton has announced the 2023-24 programme for the Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury.

 

The programme builds upon the Art Centre’s growing reputation since the arrival of Sefton in 2021, and brings to Kent a range of bold new work from world-class international artists working in live theatre, dance and music.

 

At the heart of the programme is an impressive roster of Associate Artists that David Sefton has been developing over the past two years.

 

Renowned Kent-based theatre company 1927 will present the UK premiere of Please Right Back - part social realism, part science fiction with a healthy dose of the company’s classic dystopian mischief.

 

Also presenting new work as a premier is choreographer superstar behind House of Absolute and Cabaret in the West End Julia Cheng, who is developing a new piece for unveiling at Gulbenkian in June 2024.

 

For the first time members of the legendary Castellucci family are being brought together by a venue as Gulbenkian’s first international Associate Artists. Under the umbrella of Societas (formerly Societas Raffaello Sanzio) they will present a unique series of presentations over the coming seasons.

 

The first of these, the classic children’s show, Buchettino is rarely seen in the UK and takes place in this summer’s free family bOing! international Family Festival (26-27 Aug).

 

This is quickly followed in September, by contemporary dance company Dewey Dell founded by Castellucci siblings Teodora, Demetrio, and Agata, whose work Le Sacre du Primtemps will have its UK premiere.

 

Over the course of the season, internationally beloved musician and polymath Matthew Herbert will bring together a number of high profile collaborators including visionary instrument builder Evan Parker, actress Ria Zmitrowicz (The Power), Kirsty Housely (co-director Complicité’s The Encounter) and author Max Porter. Over the course of 3 events, Matthew will be looking at instrument design, creating a new audio play from scratch, and printing and performing a new book.

 

Other Associate Artists include Improbable, whose Improbaband will mark the start of a new creative relationship with Gulbenkian and the incomparable BAC Beatbox Academy who, having showcased their smash hit Frankenstein last season, are back with a new alternative Christmas show, Pied Piper.

 

In all with the three new events from Matthew Herbert, the Gulbenkian Arts Centre 2023-4 season includes 6 UK premieres.

 

Elsewhere in the year, some of the best work from around the UK comes to the Arts Centre on tour, including Mark Thomas in England & Son, John Hegley and Friends, Shon Dale Jones’ Cracking, John-Paul Zaccarini’s The MixRace MixTape and work for audiences with profound and multiple learning difficulties from Frozen Light and work to be embraced via your phone from Paper Birds.

 

The live music programme is indicative of the kind of musical diversity that David Sefton is renowned for, having formed Meltdown Festival at Southbank Centre in 1981. Performances range from rave and prog extra-terrestrials Henge, Jeremy Deller’s Acid Brass to Dr Feelgood and ‘Wild’ Billy Childish, and from Soft Machine to Brodsky Quartet, Ashley Wass and Nouvelle Vague.

In April 2024, Gulbenkian will present Gavin Bryars’ seminal minimalist orchestral work Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet live at Canterbury Cathedral.

 

The programme also includes first-rate family performances from Tom Fletcher, Make Mend and Do and trickyart, a comedy line-up with artists including Bridget Christie, Jordan Gray and Reginald D Hunter and long-time partners Folk in The Barn hosting some of the UK’s best loved Folk and Roots Artists.

 

David Sefton, Artistic Director said:

“As we launch our third season as the Arts Centre, its a huge pleasure to be able to bring together such a fabulous and diverse range of artists and their work. I’m proud of the fact that Henge, Gavin Bryars and Soft Machine are on the same bill as 1927, Improbable and Societas - and equally delighted that our audiences will experience the very best that theatre, dance and music have to offer and be the first to see new works by such extraordinary artists.”

***

 

Ed Edwards and Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas in England & Son

A play written by Ed Edwards and directed by Cressida Brown

Set when the Great Devouring comes home, England and Son is a one-man play written for the award winning political comedian Mark Thomas by award winning playwright Ed Edwards (The Political History of Smack and Crack, Paines Plough’s Roundabout, Soho and UK tour). This is the first play Mark has ever performed in that he has not written himself.

 

‘A nation that devours another will one day devour itself.’

England and Son emerges from characters Mark knew in his childhood and Ed’s lived experience in jail. Mark takes audiences on a kaleidoscopic odyssey where disaster capitalism, Thatcherite politics and stolen wealth merge into the simple tale of a working class boy who just wants his Dad to smile at him.

 

The production comes to the Gulbenkian as part of a UK tour.

 

Wed 20 Sep, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£15 (Concessions available) 14+

 

Dewey Dell
Deriva Traversa // Le Sacre du Printemps

Extraordinary contemporary dance company, Dewey Dell, founded by Italian siblings Teodora, Demetrio, and Agata Castellucci present two of their most celebrated works in a double bill - Deriva Traversa // Le Sacre du Printemps. Internationally renowned for their experimental and interdisciplinary approach, Dewey Dell combine dance with visual arts, music, and technology.

 

Tue 28 & Wed 29 Sep, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available) 12+

 

John Hegley and Friends

National Poetry Day

Fresh from Edinburgh Fringe 2023, John Hegley presents his hour-long show of poem, drawing, cardboard creature, song and story alongside three terrific turns telling their own Canterbury tales, including the plick pluck plaintive plenty of Diego Brown and the Good Fairy. Presented in partnership with Canterbury Festival.

 

Thu 5 Oct, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available) 8+

 

Shôn Dale-Jones

Cracking

Welsh storyteller, comic, raconteur and wit Shôn Dale-Jones returns to the Gulbenkian as part of the UK tour of his new show.

 

After cracking an egg on his mother’s forehead, Shôn opens his door to find real life Internet trolls on his doorstep threatening to turn his world upside down. CRACKING is a dark and funny story that blends reality and fiction into one seamless whole.

 

Fri 20 & Sat 21 Oct, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available) Age: TBC

 

The Actor’s Lounge

Things I Know to be True

Canterbury based theatre company The Actor’s Lounge invite audiences to uncover the complexities of life and the powers that bind or break a family in their new, poignant, humorous, and daring production of Things I Know to Be True by Andrew Bovell.

 

The local company have a mission to create and present exceptional productions that are reflective of the voices and perspectives of its members, and are deeply woven into the local community.

 

Bob and Fran have dedicated their lives to providing a life for their four children that they never had themselves. As the Price children grow up and leave the family home to embark on their own journeys, Bob and Fran look forward to enjoying the fruits of their labor. However, as the seasons change, shocking revelations come to light, raising the question of whether love can ever be too much.

 

Tues 31st Oct – Sat 4th Nov, 7.30pm & Tues 31st Oct, Wed 1st & Fri 3rd Nov, 2pm followed by Q&A
Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available)

14+

 

John-Paul Zaccarini

The MixRace MixTape

John-Paul Zaccarini brings his stand-up, hip-hop and spoken word odyssey of passion, hope and humour. Taking audiences on a poetic journey through everyday racism, homophobia and classism, John-Paul explores the political and emotional minefield of intersectionality with poignancy in this highly personal and provocative performance.

 

Fri 10 Nov, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available) 16+

 

The Paper Birds

Feel Me

Feel Me is an interactive theatre show by leading devised theatre company, The Paper Birds, which asks audiences what they care about, via their phones. It comes to the Gulbenkian as part of a UK tour.

 

A mixture of live performance and screened filmic content, Feel Me takes audiences on a journey through landscapes and across borders, through weather storms and paperwork, endless queues and interviews. Worlds unfold from backpacks, each scene and location temporary, like a transient teenager in search of safety, acceptance and a new place to call home.

 

Thu 23 Nov, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available) Age: 13+

 

Improbable
ImprobaBand: Day = Night

An evening of live improvised music and story.

On a dark February evening join The ImprobaBand for an evening of live music inspired by special guests.

 

Musical director Chris Ash leads the band on keys, with Joley Cragg on percussion, Juliet Colyer on cello and Max Gittings on woodwind. Each night the band will improvise a unique score, joined by special guests. A jazz tune sung by Josie Lawrence inspired by a local architect? A cello sonata inspired by chat between a chef and a designer? Ruth Bratt sings an operatic aria, inspired by a master carpenter?

 

Part-gig, part-show this is a night for the musically curious brought to you by award-winning theatre company Improbable (My Neighbour Totoro, Lifegame, Satyagraha) and the team behind the hit production An Improbable Musical.

 

7-9 Feb, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£16 (Concessions available)

 

Jasmin Vardimon Company

JV:2024

Each year the Gulbenkian host a brilliant dance ensemble, hand-picked by Jasmin Vardimon, showcasing an exciting and energetic mix of inventive choreography and exceptional new talent. More information to be announced on the 2024 company in due course.

 

Tue 26 Mar, 7.30pm Gulbenkian Theatre
£10 full (Concessions available)

 

Frozen Light
The Bar at the Edge of Time

Frozen Light bring thier sixth multi-sensory touring spectacular for audiences with profound and multiple learning Disabilities to Canterbury as part of it’s UK tour.

 

The glasses are polished, the lights are down low, and time will be hopping. The Bar at the Edge of Time waits only for you, so what are you waiting for? Leave the hours, minutes, and seconds behind, step across the threshold and meet the bar's maestro mixologists, crooners and hosts. But a mystery lies at the heart of this place, a mystery hidden even from them. One that can only be solved when we spend our time together.

 

Fri 19 & Sat 20 Apr, 11am & 2pm Jarman Building
£8 with free carers
16+

 

Julia Cheng
UK premiere of new work by Julia Cheng - UK PREMIERE

Julia combines contemporary dance with street dance and martial arts to create a unique movement language. She has performed in venues such as Sadler’s Wells, Royal Opera House, and the Southbank Centre, and has received critical acclaim for her innovative work.

 

Thu 20 – Sat 22 Jun 2024
7.30pm (plus 2pm Sat)
Tickets: £16 (Concessions available)

 

1927
Please Right Back - UK PREMIERE

The Gulbenkian presented the world premiere of a new show from local Margate based theatre company 1927, one of their Associate Artists for 2023-4.

All he has to do is jump off the train, hand a perfectly innocent briefcase to a man called Jones, and get back to his family in time for tea. Easy Peasy.

 

But the journey doesn’t stop here, neither do the stories. I’ll probably have to help, which is fine, because I have a waterproof coat, a beer and some Babybels. I am ready for anything.

 

Except perhaps the truth.

 

Part social realism, part science fiction with a healthy dose of mischief and a dash of dystopia, Please right back is a eulogy to the power of the imagination, storytelling and make believe.

 

When: Wed 24 - Sat 27 Jul 2024 7.30pm, plus Fri 26 & Sat 27, 2pm

Venue: Colyer-Fergusson Hall Tickets: £16 (Concessions available) Age: 8+

 

Acid Brass

Artist and visionary Jeremy Deller combined the people’s music of the past with the people’s music of the present when he united one of the world’s leading works brass bands with acid house.

 

The combination proved to be pure genius and Acid Brass has been performed to huge acclaim in major music festivals all over the world. Now they make a rare appearance in the Gulbenkian’s opening weekend.

 

Undoubtedly, one of the World’s leading brass bands. Since its founding in 1937 by a group of employees at the Fairey Aviation Works in Stockport, the Band has won multiple domestic and international awards and is in constant demand for concerts, both at home and abroad.

 

Sat 30 Sep, 8pm
Colyer-Fergusson Hall
£25 (£20 restricted view, £15 student)

 

Henge

Attention Humans! This is HENGE.

Extra-terrestrial joymongers – HENGE – have been delighting audiences in the UK and Europe since they landed on Planet Earth seven years ago. Their scintillating live performances earned them ‘Best Live Act’ at the Independent Festival Awards and they have since cemented their reputation with two acclaimed albums, numerous tours and regular main-stage festival appearances.

 

Their music boldly defies definition, occupying a space between rave and prog rock that nobody knew existed. It is energetic, subversive and invigoratingly playful, jovially going ‘where no one has gone before’.

 

Wed 4 Oct, 8pm

Colyer-Fergusson Hall
£15 (Concessions available)

 

Matthew Herbert and The Radiophonic Institute presents

Matthew Herbert is one of the most important British artists of his generation. From the upper echelons of cinematic scoring and avant-garde composition to iconic, leftfield dance floor tracks and remixes, his accomplishments in music and sound are monolithic.

 

Matthew founded and leads The Radiophonic Institute, an organisation born from the profound legacy of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop that ‘creates, connects and champions innovation in sound and music’. The Institute aims to inspire and enable a new generation of diverse creative practitioners to collaborate, and to challenge the pre-existing conventions of music making and sound design.

 

As part of our season, Matthew and The Radiophonic Institute will be presenting three events:

 

Sat 7 Oct, 8pm
Matthew Herbert and Metta Shiba, plus Henry Dagg and Evan Parker
An evening of music, including the launch of Then Through Now, the new album by Henry Dagg and Evan Parker.

Colyer-Fergusson Hall
£15 (Concessions available)

 

Sun 26 Nov, 8pm
A Staged Audio Play in a Day
Matthew Herbert with Kirsty Housely, Ria Zmitrowicz, Ella Kay and Imogen Knight.

 

Colyer-Fergusson Hall
£15 (Concessions available)

 

Sat 17 Feb 8pm
A Book in a Day
Matthew Herbert and #1 best selling author Max Porter

Colyer-Fergusson Hall
£15 (Concessions available)

 

Gavin Bryars Ensemble
Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet

Audiences are invited to experience Gavin Bryers’ seminal minimalist orchestral work performed in the atmospheric surroundings of the Cathedral.

 

First released in 1975, the piece features a looped recording of a homeless man singing a religious song, which Bryars discovered on the streets of London. The recording is accompanied by a live orchestra playing a simple melody, which gradually builds in intensity and complexity to a moving crescendo.

 

The piece is haunting, powerful, and deeply moving, and has been performed across the world. A celebration of Gavin Bryars’ 80th birthday, presented in association with Canterbury Cathedral.

 

Fri 5 Apr, 7.30pm Canterbury Cathedral Tickets: £20

 

A Battersea Arts Centre, Beatbox Academy & rODIUM Co-Production Pied Piper

Following the award-winning, five-star smash-hit stage show and BBC film, Frankenstein How to Make a Monster, (Gulbenkian 2021), the BAC Beatbox Academy return with the world premiere hip-hop musical, Pied Piper.

 

It’s the eve of the mayoral election, and the kids of Hamlin aren’t happy. The mayor and owner of the local pie factory has imposed a music ban, and to make matters worse, there’s a serious rat problem. But, there have been whispers of a mysterious rat catcher in town... sometimes he plays a pipe...sometimes a microphone. Can this curious stranger help Hamlin to find its voice once more?

Pied Piper is a raucous musical re-imagining of a medieval fairy-tale. Featuring a hugely talented cast of beatboxers, musicians and special guest performances from the local community, get ready for an electrifying night of vocal wizardry for all the family.

 

Wed 6 – Sun 10 Dec, various times Gulbenkian Theatre
£12 (Groups of 4+ £10)
Age: 6

 

 

Full Listings

Full comedy programme listings can be found here
Full family programme listings can be found here
Full music programme listings can be found here
Full theatre and dance programme listings can be found here Full music programme can be found here. 

 

www.thegulbenkian.co.uk

 

Notes to Editors

About Gulbenkian Arts Centre

The University of Kent has an impressive history of supporting arts and culture in Kent, in particular through the work of its Gulbenkian Arts Centre. In 2014 the exceptional work carried out by the team at Gulbenkian was acknowledged when it became a National Portfolio Organisation with Arts Council England and it has since developed a national and international profile through an diverse, multi-arts programme and pioneering projects such as ART31 and bOing! International Family Festival.

 

About the Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries

The University is very proud of its venues but recognises that, as a Civic University, we need to do more to widen cultural participation, champion diversity and promote arts excellence across Kent. It is in this context that our arts and culture activity including the Gulbenkian Arts Centre now sits within our Institute of Cultural and Creative Industries (iCCi). This innovative and dynamic new Institute delivers a distinctive model of skills acquisition and education, built on innovative research, a dynamic arts programme, and partnerships with artists, practitioners and the creative industries. Through iCCi, the University is connecting research, teaching, industry and community, so that new and amazing things can happen.