Near To

'A profoundly generous and compassionate exploration of joyous play, fearless risk-taking and collective storytelling, glowing with empathy and questioning assumptions about truth and identity.' Dr. David Butler.

Near To is an improvised show about memories, identity and community making. Through immersive staging, the audience is brought into a funeral reception, remembering the life of ‘Joana’—the heroine of the piece—whose spirit is played by three performers. Their task is to give their own eulogy.

This unusual reception is set up like a game - through a series of rules, the ensemble improvises stories about ‘Joana’ which playfully blur the lines between fiction and reality.

Alternately hilarious and poignant, these stories are interwoven with physical theatre and music, as they collectively embody a singular consciousness.

The piece emboldens the audience to attend to life imaginatively, joyfully and collectively.

Devised with Adelaide Marshall, Ted Walliker, Sarah Thorogood, Georgie Harold Moss, Rory Greig, Aaron Cliff and Leah Fennell.

Performed at Manchester West Art Collective as part of the Manchester-In-Fringe-Awards (March 2022); On The Rag Gallery Manchester (June 2022); and the Edinburgh Fringe (August 2022).