The Rehearsal (a trilogy)
Performed live in the bar! (Beer provided)
Three shows available for touring from Spring 2008
In a bar at the end of a long night’s drinking two performers collaborate with their audience in the planning and rehearsal of a theatrical performance event. This is a rehearsal of a ‘new’ show but also a rehearsal of, and an attempt to come to terms with, the inevitability of the death of ourselves and our loved ones. This is a unique show offering a contemplation on creativity and the inevitability of mortality.

“There’s something about imagining it that makes the reality of it not so bad, that means you’ll be able to cope with it when it happens, but there’s also the fear that if I think hard and strong enough about it, I could bring about the potential deaths of my loved ones…. There’s something about when those real experiences happen that you think its not happening to you, its happening to someone else, or you’re in a film, or you’re in a play…”

But this is a unique performance, with three versions of the show available as a trilogy, each performed by a different couple, two fifty-something men (Death Rattle: the rehearsal of a radio show), a couple (Clinging On: the rehearsal of a relationship) and two twenty-something women (Happy Hour: the rehearsal of a ‘physical theatre’ show). Each show is related to the others around a common theme and structure, but each show comprises a radically different reflection on, and rehearsal of, the processes and potentialities of dying.

Pigeon Theatre are a Manchester based physical performance company. Using their unique, distinctive and bizarre physical performance style, the work is highly interactive and, especially when viewed as a trilogy, provides an insightful contemplation on time, death, memory and imagination. Fuelled by alcohol this is an erotic, exhilarating, exhausting and excessively intimate show in a real bar.

The characters seduce and intimidate with their intense eye contact, and it is so intimate, you could put your arm around them in their grief – if you were brave enough. Despite the uncomfortable moments and the uncertain prospect of being handed a script, if you didn’t engage with this captivating show, then you can stop daydreaming… you are already dead. (Sara Newman, BBC online 4/07/07)

You can book just one of these shows if you wish, but we are offering this unique performance event as a trilogy. The Rehearsal is site-specific and so ideally needs to be placed in a bar at your venue (if there is no bar at your venue there is an option to set up a bar in a studio space). Each show runs at 50 minutes so could run in the bar alongside main house performances.

“[a] cosy piece, where performers use their bodies to bend, lope and slam their way around the space in a dizzying display of balance” Metro
“a pocket masterpiece” Stage
“be dazzled, challenged, amused and perhaps even a bit frightened” Manchester Evening News
“inspiring and inclusive” Manchester Evening News