What does it mean to have and to be a body? As we increasingly fuse our biological brains with technology, at what point do we stop being human? Does it even matter?
Together with two of the UK’s most innovative and inspiring theatre companies – Unlimited Theatre and RashDash – our world premiere of Future Bodies immerses itself fully into these and other such probing questions, smashing together science fact and fiction, to create a thrilling theatrical exploration of the impact of science on human development. This visceral and playful production – creatively captioned throughout to allow for full accessibility – fuses spoken word, live original music and movement through a series of humorous and thought-provoking vignettes.
Playing numerous humans and occasionally body parts are a multi-talented and diverse cast of six. They are Manchester actress Yusra Warsama who returns to HOME following her performance in On Corporation Street (ANU Productions/HOME) in 2016. Recent TV appearances include Call The Midwife and Our Girl; RashDash’s Becky Wilkie (also based in Manchester) who has written all the music and songs and was most recently seen in the Royal Exchange’s production of RashDash’s Three Sisters; Alison Halstead, who also returns to Manchester following her acclaimed performance as La Poncia in Graeae and the Royal Exchange’s production of The House of Bernarda Alba. She was a part of the all-female acrobatics skills ensemble in ENO’s Aida. Later this autumn, Alison will be in Royal Court’s production of Hole, also directed by RashDash.
The remaining cast comprises Lara Steward, who communicates both through speech and sign language, having been deaf since the age of three. Her past credits include Redefining Juliet (Many Rivers Film for BBC Shakespeare Season and Barbican Pit Theatre Open Lab); Kate Maravan, whose numerous TV credits include Safe, The Coroner, New Tricks, Emmerdale, Doctors, Touch of Frost; her theatre credits include One Cold Dark Night (Bush Theatre), Opening Skinner’s Box (Improbable), Four Minutes, Twelve Seconds (Trafalgar Studios and Hampstead Theatre), and Enduring Song (Southwark Playhouse); and Deshaye Gayle, who graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2017. His theatre credits include Sex with Robots and Others Devices (King’s Head Theatre), The Incident (Arcola), and The Words are Coming (Theatre 503).
Future Bodies runs from Friday 28 September – Saturday 13 October.
Future Bodies is supported by Arts Council England and the Wellcome Trust, and is also a trailblazer event for the 2018 Manchester Science Festival (Thursday 18 – Sunday 28 Oct 2018).
