Thu 28 Apr

Keep Breathing

by Chris Goode

Stoke Newington International Airport

Nitrogen, oxygen and argon; love, laughter and longing; hopes, ideas, testimony. Breath — as evanescent as theatre, and every bit as full of incident and promise.

In this early draft showing of a brand new piece of evolving, responsive storytelling, Chris Goode looks at what can be found, said and shared in one brief, vital exhalation. From words collected via chain-email, individuals from around the world will speak, via the performer, to an audience of strangers. They can say anything, on any topic, provided it can be spoken in one breath.  Through their speech and other traces of their presence, a geographical and political narrative gradually emerges, connecting performer, authors and audience, locally and globally.

This piece briefly elevates breathing from the automatic and subconscious to actively consider it as a force between people: a fundamental ecological connection; a metaphor for social involvement.  A continuation of Chris’s work exploring big ideas in small formats, Keep Breathing also asks deep questions about what theatre can be and how we can know each other better in the space it occupies.

Marrying a gently intimate, conversational performance style to material derived from the documentary reality of real-world experience, Keep Breathing guides the audience through an emotional and intellectual journey that’s seductive, immersive, and full of the rhythms of life.

A Drum Theatre Plymouth Commission
Created with the support of the London Word Festival