Theatre Re, one of the UK’s leading theatre groups, has announced a captivating new season for 2025, featuring critically acclaimed shows which will return to delight audiences. Well-established across the globe for creating strikingly poignant and thought-provoking performances, Theatre Re’s shows explore fragile human experiences through compelling physical theatre.
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| Guillaume Pigé |
Showcasing movement, visual theatre and original live music, Theatre Re are renowned for their delicate depiction of human emotion. For each show, the company forges intimate collaborations with experts in different fields – such as science, philosophy and public health – as well as community groups, who play a crucial part throughout the devising process and development of their work. For this year, they are partnering with National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) for the run of The Nature of Forgetting.
BIRTH, Theatre Re’s sell-out Edinburgh Fringe 2019 hit, is a poignant visual piece of theatre that deals with the under-represented experience of pregnancy loss. BIRTH delves into the bond between three women from the same family, their shared loss and their unconditional love, as well as the strength they discover in each other. After the double-bill with Moments in Poole, BIRTH will be performed on its own in Nottingham and Chester.
Coming to Sheffield this June is Theatre Re’s visually striking and folktale-inspired production Bluebelle. This non-verbal production weaves together plots from distinguished writers Angela Carter, Italo Calvino, the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault alongside interviews conducted with parents and carers. The result is a new folk story that offers a new perspective on what it means to be a parent. Developed alongside Visual Vernacular and d/Deaf Artists, Bluebelle is accessible to d/Deaf audiences without the need for BSL interpretation.
After more than 200 performances in sold-out venues across the globe, Theatre Re’s explosive, powerful and joyous piece The Nature of Forgetting performed in Winchester this March.
Teaming up with The National Institute for Health and Care Research for its 2025 run, The Nature of Forgetting was inspired by neurobiological research, interviews with people living with dementia and the work of theatre director Tadeusz Kantor. The Nature of Forgetting is a moving and hauntingly beautiful piece about the inability to recollect and what remains when memory fades.
Ahead of the 2025 work we caught up with Theatre Re’s artistic director Guillaume Pigé to learn more.
What can you tell me about Theatre Re’s upcoming work?
We have got a lot coming up! On the touring front we have got 4 mid-scale productions on the road. BIRTH will be at The Storyhouse in Chester in mid-May and then we will be traveling all the way to Shanghai to perform at the beautiful Theatre Young. Bluebelle will be at the emblematic Crucible in Sheffield in mid-June. The Nature of Forgetting will be at the Fringe in Edinburgh (Pleasance Grand) from Aug 9th to 23rd. Last but not least, our new piece Moments will keep touring in the UK in the Autumn and new dates will be announced shortly.
On the training front, we have gotour monthly training sessions at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. We will also be delivering schools workshops, CPD sessions and career day to accompany touring productions. And finally our next week-long workshop for professional and semi-professional performers will be announced in the coming weeks.
What do you believe sets Theatre Re apart from other similar theatre companies in terms of artistic vision and execution?
One of the things that sets us apart is our unique style of storytelling - bringing original live music with visual theatre to deliver a strong story. Through our combination of inventive theatre and rigorous dramaturgy, we are able to connect with audiences in an intuitive way, and deal sensitively with taboo subject matters. Every action becomes a metaphor resonating with people across the world regardless of where they are from and what language they speak.
The way we engage and connect with various experts within and outside the arts from different fields during our development process is also very specific to us and has a clear impact on the work and its relevance.
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| Bluebell. Photo by Chris Nash |
How do you approach the development of the work that you stage?
We tend to start with a question. Something that we don’t have the answer to. We then gather a team of collaborators around thatquestions and together we respond to that original stimuli. The Nature of Forgetting started with what is eternal. BIRTH started with when does memory begins. Bluebelle started with why live theatre and Moments with why do we do what we do. The way werespond is very open and encompasses a wide range techniques, art forms and theatre traditions. The whole process is always guided by a sense of play and the joy we find in it.
We tend to start with a question. Something that we don’t have the answer to. We then gather a team of collaborators around thatquestions and together we respond to that original stimuli. The Nature of Forgetting started with what is eternal. BIRTH started with when does memory begins. Bluebelle started with why live theatre and Moments with why do we do what we do. The way werespond is very open and encompasses a wide range techniques, art forms and theatre traditions. The whole process is always guided by a sense of play and the joy we find in it.
How important is it that those productions match the values that the company holds?
When we make a piece, our first audience is us. So it’s very important that we like the work. Also, it takes us about 2 to 3 years to make a new piece so ultimately all our shows mirror who we are, what we struggle with and what we want to stand for.
When we make a piece, our first audience is us. So it’s very important that we like the work. Also, it takes us about 2 to 3 years to make a new piece so ultimately all our shows mirror who we are, what we struggle with and what we want to stand for.
In what ways do you collaborate with experts with various fields such as science, philosophy and public health and how does this impact on the productions?
At first there is always an element of us learning or discovering something new. So, we ask a lot of questions and we try to be as curious as possible. We then allow these initial conversations to have an impact on the work. This could be by using some of whatwe have discovered to generate physical tasks for instance. Or sometimes the experts we collaborate with lead specific workshops for the company based on their practice. It really depends on whatis it they do, what we need and the best way to share that with creative team. We then keep in close contact with everyone and invite them regularly to come and see the work at various stages. Their feedback becomes instrumental in guiding the development of the work and the choices we make. It ensures relevance and almost legitimize the work in a way - especially if some of the experiences that we deal with in the pieces are not directly linked to our own.
How do you blend the styles of movement, visual theatre and music in the work?
I don’t think we ‘blend’ these disciplines within our process. Quitethe opposite actually. I think we create a space for all these disciplines to exist fully. In reaching their maximum potential they start to be in conversation and respond to each other in the most exciting and un-expected ways. The result of these interactions or dialogues becomes our devising process. Most of our work emanate from the happy accidental encounters of these various disciplines.
Accessibility is a significant aspect of your work. Why is it important for Theatre Re to create productions that cater to diverse audiences?
Because I really feel like our job as theatre makers is to bring people together. We always want our work to resonate with the largest number of people. Now, in reality we know that our work is not for everyone but we will keep doing everything we can to at least try. In order to achieve this, the work has to be accessible.
Because I really feel like our job as theatre makers is to bring people together. We always want our work to resonate with the largest number of people. Now, in reality we know that our work is not for everyone but we will keep doing everything we can to at least try. In order to achieve this, the work has to be accessible.
This year, we are very proud to say that all our shows are accessible to d/Deaf audiences. BIRTH and Bluebelle are accessible without the need for BSL interpretation. All the performances of The Nature of Forgetting at The Fringe with The Pleasance will be BLS Interpreted. We also created a version of Moments with integrated BSL.
We are also aiming to organise our first BSL interpreted week-long workshop before the end of the year… More on that very soon.
What was the first piece of theatre that had a big impact on you?
I don’t think there is just one but I do remember quite vividly ‘Just for Show’ by DV8 and ‘The Castaways of the Fol Espoir’ by Le Théâtre du Soleil.
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| The Nature of Forgetting. |
What gives you inspiration?
Being in the rehearsal room full of fantastic individuals working their magic.
Being in the rehearsal room full of fantastic individuals working their magic.
What would you hope an audience takes way from seeing one of the shows?
If people can leave the theatre with a tear in the eye and a big smile on their face, then I think we have done the job.
If people can leave the theatre with a tear in the eye and a big smile on their face, then I think we have done the job.
Where can audiences see the shows?
All the details for our touring shows and workshops can be found on our website - https://www.theatrere.co.uk/
You can also follow us on Instagram @TheatreRe
See you all after a show or at a workshop!
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