Kite Theatre are proud to bring their debut production, More Heat Than Light by Tom Titherington, to London: a thoughtful, witty and engaging one-man show exploring family history and youth.
Eighteen-year-old Alex (Ashley Hodgson) sits alone in his grandparents’ old, decaying living-room on New Cross Road, the first person there in years. He’s been up all night, flicking through photos, listening to records, re-living the vibrant history that once occupied these walls. With a few hours until Nan’s funeral, Alex uses warmth energy and wit to guide the audience through the colourful tales of his ancestors, trying to reconcile the grand stories of the past with the difficult reality that dominated the end of her life. Based heavily on the writer’s real family history, and using detailed design, original music and a powerful central performance, More Heat Than Light provides a unique insight into a young person’s mind, exploring how our sense of history can shape our identity.
After two successful runs in Bristol, the company are taking the production right into the streets in which it’s set, bringing to New Cross a story rich with real local history. It is the debut production from Kite Theatre, a Bristol-based company dedicated to making vibrant, authentic and intricate work. Blending naturalistic stories with music, art and film, the company aims to delve deep into how our relationships, our history and the world around us shape us into who we are.
The piece has been crafted specifically for an intimate, antique space just like The London Theatre, where the audience’s proximity with the stage will draw them in, capturing every detail in the design, and every nuance of Ashley Hodgson’s performance. More Heat Than Light is a bold and heartfelt production that showcases Kite Theatre’s potential for creating engaging and technically complex theatre.
More Heat Than Light is at The London Theatre, 443 New Cross Rd, London SE14 6TA, 7th and 8th April 2018.
