COMPANY CARPI PRESENTS

A CONTEMPORARY DANCE THEATRE EVENT

 

KNOTS

by

R.D. LAING

 

A collaboration between COMPANY CARPI, choreographer  BETTINA CARPI & composer GARY LLOYD, and the UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT featuring four actors, seven dancers, five musicians and a conductor.

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A hybrid dance theatre production with live music based on the book KNOTS by the late Glaswegian revolutionary psychiatrist R.D. LAING.

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The highly controversial psychiatrist and writer R.D. Laing (1927-1989) distinguished himself by bringing the conversation about mental health out of the back of mental hospitals and back into the public arena during the 1960s.

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Laing’s book KNOTS, published in 1970, was an attempt to set down accounts of the mental wrangles of many of his patients.  These accounts can read like poems or vignettes or small plays but are really embodiments of the thoughts of many of his indiviual patients.

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Each usually brief episode in KNOTS describes a different kind of relationship - the ‘knots’ of the title - bonds of love, dependency, uncertainty, jealousy.

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Using process-based methods of performance and building upon the methodologies of Company Carpi's collaborations with both university and funded versions of their productions based on ALAN MOORE's 'THE MIRROR OF LOVE' in 2017, Bettina Carpi and Gary Lloyd re-set R.D. LAING's 'KNOTS' in a fresh context and a vibrant environment featuring live music, and a large cast of actors and performers of contemporary dance.

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The aim is to begin conversations about mental health issues and well-being, and to promote the practices of the arts within the context of health.

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Featuring:

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Actors

ROB EDWARDS

EVANGELINE HARTLEY

JOEL WHITALL

ANDREA WILDER

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Dancers

AIMEE CHAN

COURTENEY ELLIS

CONNOR ELLIMAN

PAIGE JONES

HANNAH LAWTON

JOE MATHEW

EMMALIE MOORE

 

Musicians

MICHAEL FREDERIKSEN

DYLAN KNAGGS

TOM MAUDE

LIAM PICKERING

PAUL SHEARD

 

Conductor

GARY LLOYD

 

On Tape:

The voice of IAIN BANKS

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Lighting Design

SOPHIE RUSHWORTH

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Sound Engineer

DAN PRITCHARD

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University Of Chester Kingsway Campus

CKW005  Performance Space

Kingsway, Chester CH2 2LB

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7.30pm 18th April 2018

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With special thanks to:

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EVELYN JAMIESON

RUTH DOCKWRAY

JULIAN WAITE

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

UoC TECHNICAL STAFF

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SUPPORTED BY:

UNIVERSITY OF CHESTER

CHESTER DIVERSITY FESTIVAL

CHESHIRE DANCE