Don't Look Back

Venues 2003 / 2004

Somerset House, London
The former national registry for Births, Marriages and Deaths. Here the piece was explored mainly through the unseen areas of the building rather than the grander public spaces, including the cobbled lightwell that skirts the courtyard, the labyrinthine Salt Stair and the aptly named Dead House that formed the final resting place of the audiences’ journey. We are particularly grateful to the staff of Somerset House, many of whom were intimately involved in the production. Co-produced by Somerset House with support from Arts Council England and Made in Brighton ltd.

STATE Cinema, Grays
At this venue, one of the largest surviving Art Deco cinemas in the country, the piece has undergone its greatest transformation. Unwittingly invited to the Opening Night Gala of the cinema in 1938, the audience arrive 56 years late and stumble, as if by chance, on a journey through the forgotten glamour of its faded interior. The piece was at once a hymn to The State’s glorious Art Deco heyday and a dream of its imminent rebirth. Delicately poised between dereliction and regeneration, The State is now on the verge of a new lease of life...Special thanks to the inhabitants of Grays who were integral to the film and performance elements of the piece.
Commissioned by Thurrock Arts Generate Programme

Stanmer House
Here the production had its premiere, is a disused and hauntingly atmospheric Georgian manor house at Stanmer Park, Brighton. Here the piece started at The Gardner arts Centre and continued via black limousines through the park and up the drive to the House. The piece also performed at the labyrinthine Hazlitt Corn Exchange in Maidstone and at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, itself a converted former Georgian manor house. We are particularly grateful to Ron McAllister and all the staff and volunteers at South Hill Park for their unstinting support.

Co-commissioned by The Gardner Arts Centre Brighton, Brighton Festival and South Hill Park Arts Centre Bracknell with support from Arts Council England and Made in Brighton Ltd.