Worcester based Vamos Theatre have announced the cast for its upcoming UK tour of Dead Good, which includes Alan Riley, one of the founders of iconic full mask theatre company, Trestle Theatre.
Alan will be joined by Radhika Aggarwal, James Greaves, and Bidi Iredale for the full mask theatre show, which opens at The Swan, Worcester on February 3rd, 2022 and includes dates at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham and Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton.
For many physical theatre audiences and performers, Trestle was one of the most influential UK theatre companies of the 1980s and 90s, pioneering its particular style of wordless, full mask theatre. As one of the co-founders, Alan was an intrinsic part of the company over two decades, and his influence has been felt world-wide. He last performed on tour in 2010, and Vamos Theatre is delighted to have tempted him back onto the stage.
Most excitingly for full mask theatre fans, Alan will be joined in the show by James Greaves. James was a mainstay actor with Trestle Theatre during their most influential years, performing in many shows across the world, including Top Storey, Hanging Around, Blood and Roses, Bitter Fruit and Adventures Of The Stoneheads, amongst others. Despite James and Alan being long-standing actors with Trestle (and friends), they had little opportunity during their Trestle years to work on stage together – Dead Good brings them the chance to do just that.
Director of Dead Good, and Artistic Director of Vamos Theatre, Rachael Savage, commented, “I wrote Dead Good especially for Alan and James and now finally after 33 years we have the opportunity to see the two finest full mask actors in the UK perform together. This is literally my dream job. They understand the language of mask theatre inside out and back to front. Dead Good is about two men and their unique friendship and this is reflected beautifully in Alan and James.
“Nearly every school in the country has a Trestle mask set stored away in a cupboard in the Drama Department, their magic still intact; but do young people and their teachers appreciate the start of mask theatre in the UK and its history? Bring your students, children, grandchildren to see Dead Good and watch first-hand this once in a lifetime opportunity to see the masters at work.”
The production, which has no spoken word, features an original music score, film projection, a multi-faceted set design, and masks especially made for the show by Russell Dean of Strangeface. Dead Good is accessible to deaf and hard of hearing audiences without a BSL interpreter.
Also in the Dead Good cast is Bidi Iredale, an experienced mask actor who has played the role of Joy in Vamos Theatre’s award-winning production, Finding Joy. Her theatre work includes performances for NTC Touring Theatre, Northern Stage, CTC, The National Trust Theatre, The Customs House and Pentabus. Television includes A&E, The Glass Virgin and Coronation Street. She also writes and performs historical walkabout characters for events and museums, and has her own reminiscence project, Sweet Memories.
Dead Good is Radhika Aggarwal’s first show for Vamos Theatre. Radhika works across film, theatre, television, games, and audio. Theatre work includes Satyagraha (Improbable/ENO), The Lovely Bones (Birmingham Rep), and An Arrangement of Shoes (Tara Theatre/ Vancouver Fringe ‘Pick of The Fringe’). She is part of Soho Writers Lab 2021 and an Associate Artist with Phakama and recipient of their Artist Bursary 2021.
Dead Good tours the UK in February and March 2022. Full tour dates can be found here.
