Tamed
or, It’s Hard To Get a Real Horse
A project about conforming to - and rebelling against – the status quo; Exploring how behaviour, thought, and agency have been conditioned and tamed by the societies in which we live; And why it’s so hard to have a real horse on stage.
As an investigation into the collective and the individual, TAMED, or It's Hard To Get Real Horse, looks at how the systems and structures we belong to condition us to conform and the consequences for those who do not.
A chorus of Kates (of Taming of the Shrew fame) playfully reimagine their role and their story. Fiction and reality merge. The line between performance and rehearsal becomes blurred. The actors perform and are performed by Kate. A community chorus emerges from the wings, and the audience themselves are immersed, and participate, in the piece.
Merging text, dance, design and technology and drawing on the epic, the mundane and the ridiculous, this is a multifaceted, immersive and dynamic show that challenges expectations and disrupts the status quo.
The show will premiere at St. George's Theatre in Great Yarmouth 2024.
The workshop staging included wireless live-video, projection, and closed-circuit face tracking
CREATIVE TEAM
The show has previously been developed as an R&D.
Norwich Theatre 2022:
Director : Sarah Calver
Video & Media: Rory Willats
Composer and Sound Design: Garth McConaghie
Set & Costume Designer: Mayou Trikerioti
Assistant Designer: Denisha Parmenter
Lighting Designer: Lucinda Bray
Devising Performers: Danielle Meehan, Keziah Joseph, Joey Holden & Megan Treadway
Production Manager: Lucinda Bray
Stage Manager: Jamie Woodhouse
Social Media Manager: Denisha Parmenter.
Community Engagement Artist: Tassa de Paris.
This stage of the project was funded by Arts Council National Lottery Funding and Norfolk County Council. It was supported by DanceEast and Norwich Theatre.
R&D 2019:
Director & Text: Sarah Calver
Movement: Kate Sagovsky
Composer and Sound Design: Garth McConaghie
Video Design: Dallas Fields
Performers/ co-creators: Jennifer Jackson / Angela Clerkin / Carolina Valdés / Jessica Murrain.
Producer: Hannah Tookey
The Research and Development was funded by Arts Council National Lottery Funding and Norfolk County Council. It was supported by Fourth Monkey, Southwalk Playhouse and The Cut.
“The video, by Rory Willats and the cast, is mixed live, with chromakey and multiple viewpoints playing with our perceptions. It’s a very modern approach, but one that never feels intrusive.”