Olivier Award nominated, radically tender dance theatre show that invites you into the pub to explore the beauty of humanity set for UK tour following Barbican premiere.
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 who welcomes the same regulars each night, listening 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 last year (which saw it nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance) the show tours to Harlow, Norwich, Chester, Bradford, Barnsley and Coventry March – May 2025.
Featuring a cast of 6 dancer/performers and 2 musicians, the show is set with the audience on three sides as guests in the pub. 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.
Originally inspired by the Bob Dylan song Lay Down Your Weary Tune, 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 as the final moment of the show.
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.
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.’
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. The company worked with psychologist Joy Griffiths to develop responses to burdens that are caring, creative and therapeutic. 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).
At each venue there is a workshop with the cast the day before that is free to ticket holders, giving people the opportunities to explore the themes of Lay Down Your Burdens and our need for community and compassion.
