Following an extremely successful run of their politically charged play Vessel in 2021, Arch 468 (Hope Prize; Herstory) announce a UK tour of Our Carnal Hearts. Written by award-winning theatre maker Rachel Mars, with original music by Louise Mothersole, this choral piece is a gleeful, thrilling and murky celebration of envy, competitive spirits and all the times we screw each other over.
Our Carnal Hearts is a brilliant, grubby, morally questionable celebration of our darkest impulses to compete and conquer. This new Hebridean co-production with An Tobar and Mull Theatre reimagines this contemporary classic through a Gaelic lens, rooting a primal ritual to all consuming envy in the aesthetic traditions of ancient Britain.
Directed by the Artistic Director of An Tobar and Mull Theatre and Arch 468 Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, it’s a show filled with women unashamed to show us their ugly bits. The show features a Celtic coven singing hymns to the powerful urge to win and dancing round the fires of jealousy that rage when we don’t; four glorious singers join in a raucous cacophony of surround sound, calling on the gods for advantage and crowing over the bodies of the losers.
Audiences can expect a joyous confession of everyone we’ve ever wanted to be and everything we’ve ever wanted to own. Our Carnal Hearts is a place to whoop at our own fragility and delight against our better nature, a toast to our competitive spirits and a rumbling dance for the ugly gutter-tramping parts of our souls. It is a show that seeks to prove that envy makes us better.
Director Rebecca Atkinson-Lord comments, Rachel Mars is one of this generation’s most innovative theatre writers. Her work captivates the audience with cleverness and delight before leaping out from behind a curtain to make us squeal in surprise. She has a knack for capturing the essence of our complicated modern existence and distilling it into stories that feel infused with ancient knowledge that will resonate for years to come. Having worked with Rachel for more than a decade, I’m honoured to be granted the opportunity to direct this first major revival of her work.
Our Carnal Hearts tours Thursday 24th March – Saturday 7th May 2022. More information can be found here.
