Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight – co-founders of new production company MAAT (Music, Art, Activism and Theatre) will present the world premiere of a chilling new retelling of John Bowen’s cult TV play Robin Redbreast, which is often cited as the precursor to The Wicker Man.
Premiering on the 17 May at Aviva Studios, Robin/Red/Breast is their latest collaboration for Factory International following They (MIF23), The Nico Project (MIF19), The Skriker (MIF15) and The Masque of Anarchy (MIF13). Tickets are on sale now.
Created in collaboration with Booker Prize-shortlisted writer Daisy Johnson (Everything Under, Punchdrunk’s Viola’s Room) and musician Gazelle Twin (Black Dog, audio installation We Wax. We Shall Not Wane ft. Maxine Peake), Robin/Red/Breast is a powerful piece of live performance that combines immersive storytelling and live music to tackle complex issues around fertility, violence and power. Starring Maxine Peake the production is brought to life with additional performances from Tyler Cameron and a 10-piece all-female brass band.
Norah (Maxine Peake) is an outsider in the village. A TV script editor and city dweller seeking a slower pace of life after a breakup. But the village is not as it seems. Ancient rituals bubble below the surface and Norah finds herself trapped in an idyllic nightmare. With the villagers closing in, Norah must fight for control of her body, fertility and ultimately her story. Will she escape before the harvest?
First broadcast in 1970 as part of the BBC’s iconic Play for Today series, Robin Redbreast, directed by James McTaggart is a startling work of folk horror exploring themes of paganism, ritual and mythology. In this striking and subversive adaptation, the creative team draw on their shared fascination with folk-horror, to transform Robin Redbreast into an intimate and voyeuristic tale of bodily autonomy, power and rebirth, that blurs the boundaries between theatre, art and music.
Maxine Peake, Sarah Frankcom and Imogen Knight said: “Ever since we encountered John Bowen’s original 1970 Play For Today Robin Redbreast we have wanted to reimagine it entirely through Norahs eyes for audiences now. By exploring alternative versions of her journey we hope to offer up new questions and provocations about female experience – making new myths and rituals and starting new conversations.”
In tandem with Robin/Red/Breast Factory International will publish a series of flash fiction stories by emerging writers from across the North of England responding to the themes of the TV play on their editorial platform Factory +. They include Porcelain Delaney, Alice Godliman, Beth Barker, Abby/Abbie Walker, Jack Coop, Anita Ezeh, Ethan O’Connor and Jane Harrison.
Programmed and operated by Factory International, the organisation who also deliver the world-famous Manchester International Festival (MIF), Aviva Studios hosts a year-round programme by leading artists from across the world, creating a global destination for arts, music and culture in the heart of Manchester. The venue’s development is led by Manchester City Council, with backing of £99.05m from HM Government and £7m National Lottery funding from Arts Council England.
A Factory International production, Robin/Red/Breast will run at Aviva Studios from 15 – 27 May.
