Lay Down Your Burdens

Co-Commissioned by the Barbican, London and Harlow Playhouse

Restore your weary soul with this radically tender dance theatre show that invites you to explore the beauty of humanity and the eternal need for community and compassion.

Step into an evening at the local pub, like no other. Every night the same landlady, the same regulars, the same shots, until suddenly a stranger gets blown in from the cold.

With extraordinary physical performance, brave testimonials, live music and riotous pub games, this visceral dance theatre world draws together those who have been estranged or never even dreamed they were connected. Set in a pub on-stage, you're invited to join in with the proceedings.

Choreographer Rhiannon Faith makes socially conscious work that raises awareness and lobbies for change. Lay Down Your Burdens was grown out of conversations with communities, and developed from real-life experiences of the company. Their work gives you space to consider the meaning and importance of community.

TEAM

Choreographer/Director Rhiannon Faith · Devising Performers Dominic Coffey, Shelley Eva Haden, Donald Hutera, Sam Ford, Finetta Mikolajska Sidgwick, Sara Turner · Composed with & Performed by Anna Clock, India Merrett · Rehearsal Director Shelley Eva Haden · Dramaturg Lou Cope · Design Noemi Daboczi · Lighting Design Bethany Gupwell · Lead Composer John Victor · Sound Design Anna Clock · Sound & System Design Dan Hunt · Production Manager Jack Boissieux · Stage Manager Lauren Cross · Technical Stage Managers Jon Calvert, Zak Brewin · Lighting Programmer Joseph Bryant · Production Electrician Jen L Roxburgh · Costume Supervisor Lucy Woodcock · Production Carpenter Jay Williamson · Company Counsellor Joy Griffiths · Video Big Egg Films · Photography Foteini Christofilopoulou

CREDITS

Lay Down Your Burdens is Co-commissioned by Barbican, London and Harlow Playhouse. With support from Oxford Playhouse, Déda, and South East Dance. Funded using public money from Arts Council England. With thanks to Restoke and the Lay Down Your Burdens Creative Friends.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Lay Down Your Burdens was grown out of conversations with communities and developed from the lived experiences of company members. The work was developed in phases of R&D in Stoke-on-Trent, Oxford, Brighton and Harlow, meeting lots of local people and talking about our burdens. At Oxford Playhouse we delivered creative workshops exploring personal experiences of loneliness, the things that are hard to carry, and how we care for one another. The aim was to lighten the load by carrying it collectively.

The final work creates a familiar space (pub) that invites anyone who would like to, to share what they are carrying. It’s a space where they are listened to and where their worries or troubles are held and the gift back is music, poetry, dance; but mostly the real gift is for a moment in time, in the theatre, in our pub, we see one another, and for this moment we are all connected. We are in a time when the heaviness of world actions can feel like they are pulling us apart, so it feels vitals to us to come together to share the weight of another, and know in what we share, we are not alone.

Lay Down Your Burdens premiered at the Barbican, in November 2023, and will tour nationally in 2024 onwards. Please sign up to our newsletter to be kept up to date with tour announcements.