OLIVIER Award nominated, radically tender dance-theatre show invites you into the pub shed your worries

A widely acclaimed award nominated show that invites its audience to unload their worries and concerns is coming to Harlow Playhouse in March as part of a national tour.

Choreographer and theatre maker Rhiannon Faith would like to invite you to step into an evening at the local pub, but a night at the local like no other. Here you can explore the beauty of humanity and the eternal need for community and compassion, take the weight off and help each other lighten the load and restore our weary souls.

Titled Lay Down Your Burdens, the show is set in a friendly and welcoming British working class pub, hosted by charismatic landlady Sara. Each night she welcomes the same regulars and listens to their stories and woes. Until, one day, a stranger with an excess of baggage gets blown in from the cold.

Following a week long world premiere at London’s Barbican Theatre last year (which saw it nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance) it visits the company’s home venue, Harlow Playhouse on 7 and 8 March.

Featuring a cast of 6 dancer/performers and 2 musicians, Lay Down Your Burdens is inspired by the Bob Dylan song Lay Down Your Weary Tune. We meet the regulars and hear their stories as they arrive and take their usual seats. In this convivial setting the guests (audience) are encouraged to join the conversations that go round the bar. With radical tenderness, humour and intoxicating behaviour we can experience joy and togetherness, explore the beauty of humanity and our eternal need for community and compassion.

‘Bold and exciting … a powerful and deeply thought-provoking show like no other’ The Reviews Hub

Music is a key element of the work. The pub setting features an original score by John Victor (of London band Gengahr) alongside live original music played by Ceilidh duo Ólta Duo. As the audience joins in with the conversation through unstructured tasks and supported testimonials, their voices are recorded and edited live to create a collective weary tune, bespoke to each performance and played each night as the final moment of the show.

‘Packed with humour, participation and experimentation’ Get The Chance

It’s an evocative recreation of the pub as a centrepoint of British working class culture, drawing on Rhiannon’s own family roots for inspiration. There’s dubious karaoke and riotous pub games as the hyper-real pub meets a visceral dance theatre world drawing together those who have been estranged or never even dreamed they were connected.

‘Bold, inventive and discomfiting, this is a work of urgent importance’ The Stage ★★★★ (on Faith’s Smack That)

Rhiannon Faith explained ‘Lay Down Your Burdens invites us to share what we are carrying. It’s a space where we are listened to and where our worries and troubles are held – and in return there’s music, poetry and dance. But mostly, in the theatre, in our pub, we see one another and for a brief moment we are all connected. Current world events can feel overwhelming, so it seems vital for us to come together to share the weight of our troubles knowing that we are not alone.’

‘one of the few UK artists making dance theatre that is pointedly socially conscious’ Lyndsey Winship The Guardian

Lay Down Your Burdens was grown out of conversations with communities and developed from the lived experiences of company members. It was developed in phases of research and development with communities around the country where people talked about their burdens. The show shines a light on individual suffering and discusses personal grief and serious illness. Suitable for over 16s, it contains strong language and scenes that some may find upsetting.

The six intergenerational performers are Shelley Eva Haden, Donald Hutera, Dominic Coffey, Sam Ford, Sara Turner, Finetta Sidgwick and two musicians, (India Merrett, fiddle and Paul Higham, guitar).

‘the local pub reimagined as a space of collective care, catharsis and redemption’ London Pub Theatres ★★★★

There will also be a FREE workshop for ticket holders with the cast on Thursday 27 March (90 mins, 7.30pm), giving people the opportunities to explore the themes of Lay Down Your Burdens and our need for community and compassion.

Rhiannon Faith is an entertaining, witty and erudite interviewee. She is available to discuss the show, her inspirations for creating it, and the aspirations she has for its legacy. Contact Steve Forster as above for availabilities, review tickets and images. Images can also be downloaded via www.sfppr.co.uk/downloads/

Listings info

Lay Down Your Burdens
Radical and proudly socially conscious dance/theatre from Rhiannon Faith Company. Featuring live music and set in a friendly and welcoming pub where we are invited to join the regulars, shed our baggage and weariness and collectively lighten the load.
Age 16+. Contains adult language and and explores themes of grief, serious illness and personal suffering.
120 minutes (including interval).

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, Essex CM20 1LS
Friday 7 March 7.30pm, Saturday 8 March matinee 2.30pm PWYC £2/£5/£10 01279 431945 www.harlowplayhouse.co.uk