the gogmagogs gobbledygook

For the first time the company collaborated with writers as well as composers. The use of words was a direct development from the last show where words and sounds had been an incidental part of the performance. The director wanted to create several interweaving narratives, that would each use words in different ways in relation to the music, and require the player to jump from one piece to the next as swiftly as changing channels on a TV. The show required the performers to use their voices extensively, as well as learning to play and speak/sing simultaneously.

Commissioned by the City of London Festival 1999 followed by two weeks a t the Traverse Theatre during the Edinburgh Festival. It then ran for 3 weeks at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith, toured the UK for 5 weeks, and Brazil for a week. This show ran at the Miller Theatre in New York for two weeks in November 2000 and for a two week tour in the US autumn 2001.

Conceived and directed by Lucy Bailey. Designed by Naomi Wilkinson This was the first time the company worked with writers as well as composers and five teams were commissioned: Orlando Gough and Caryl Churchill, Django Bates and Patrick Barlow, Gerard McBurney and Zinovy Zinik, Roddy Skeaping and Rupert Sheldrake, and Neil Innes. Performers: Nell Catchpole, Alison Dods, Matthew Ward, violin; David Lasserson, viola; Chris Allan, Matt Sharp 'cello; Lucy Shaw, double bass.

view image gallery