Digital Programme: Lay Down Your Burdens

Content Advice and Resources
At the heart of Lay Down Your Burdens is the understanding that we all carry baggage with us; during the evening we will learn about the characters’ burdens. These stories are based on real life testimonials and lived experiences. We've put some extra detail about the themes of the show in the Content Advice and Resources webpage, so that you can be prepared along with some support resources. 

As you'll find in the document, there is a quiet space available next to the Pit Theatre. If you need to leave the performance, the hosts will assist you and if you’d like to come back in at any point, we will readmit you as soon as we can. After the performance the auditorium will be held open and you are welcome to take time to reflect before leaving the theatre. 
 

Seating
At this performance there is a combination of bar stool seating (close to the action), chairs with a back and wheelchair spaces with accompanying companion seats. Seating is allocated on a first-come first-served basis. If you have any concerns, please speak to a member of our front of house team upon arrival.

Audience participation
At points during the performance, audience members will be invited to participate. This is completely voluntary, and we ask you to only share what you're comfortable with. These words will be recorded as part of the show and these recordings may be used in the future for Rhiannon Faith Company’s work. If you would like to know more please speak to a member of staff.

Accessibility 
All performances of Lay Down Your Burdens are relaxed. Find out more here. 

I began to think about Lay Down Your Burdens during lockdown. I was thinking about the people who were living by themselves who had little to no connection with others. When we are with people we care about and connect with we laugh, we talk about our day and we also get things off our chest. So I was wondering where all those ‘things’ went if we didn’t have that familiar way of connecting, getting things out, laying things down. I was also thinking about how to take art to people if they couldn’t get to the art. That’s how the seed of the show began: I imagined knocking on someone's door, having a chat, listening to things they needed to get off their chest and in return I would give them a gift, and the gift would be art, a song, a piece of live music, a poem, a dance. And as I leave, rather than being alone thinking about the weight of all the things they are carrying, they might be thinking about the gift instead. 

Then of course some people in this life carry more than others, and I was thinking about how we see one another and really observe what a person is carrying. Whether we stand in admiration of those who get through life with so much heaviness to carry or if they are judged. When I am at my most vulnerable I lay down my experiences to my friends and family and through their attention, time, words and hugs, they can share the weight sitting on my shoulders. But that is a privilege that not everybody in our communities has. They may not have a person to listen to, they may be isolated or feel like they don’t matter enough to take someone's time up, and they may feel like they are a burden. 

This show creates a familiar space (a pub) that invites anyone who would like to, to share what they are carrying. It’s a space where they are listened to and where their worries or troubles are held and the gift back is music, poetry and dance. But mostly the real gift is that for a moment in time, in this theatre, in our pub, we see one another, and for this moment we are all connected. We are in a time when the heaviness of world actions can feel like they are pulling us apart, so we invite you to come together to share the weight of another, and know that in what we share, we are not alone.

Rhiannon Faith

Rhiannon Faith Company makes radically tender dance theatre, working nationally on big stages and locally with communities on the margins, always with social change and care at its heart.

We are brave, compassionate and fearlessly push the boundaries of performance to make shows that speak to, reach and bring people together.

Our daring and audacious spirit drives sector change by delivering socially engaged, unforgettable shows and legacy packages. We go to the heart of injustice, working collaboratively with local communities, participants, artists, third sector partners and arts organisations to ensure our work serves the people and promotes community belonging and empathy.

The company are a female-led Arts Council NPO based in Harlow, Essex, with nationwide impact. We are making bold, ambitious moves to secure a future as global leaders in original dance theatre with a social purpose, to champion community transformation and authentic belonging for all.

Rhiannon Faith Company have been nominated for five National Dance Awards; ‘Best Independent Company’ 2021, 2022 & 2023, ‘Best Digital Choreography’ (DROWNTOWN Lockdown) in 2021 and ‘Best Dance Film’ (DROWNTOWN live film) in 2022. In addition, Rhiannon Faith was nominated for an AWA Women In Dance Leadership Award 2022.

https://www.rhiannonfaith.com/

Dominic Coffey
Devising Performer
Dominic Coffey discovered an interest in dance while at Chorlton High School, and started training in contemporary dance while studying at Pendleton College from 2010-2012. He completed a degree at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds, after which he gained a place on the Jasmin Vardimon Professional Development Course where he had the opportunity to tour with JV2. Dominic Coffey has worked professionally with Gary Clarke, Rhiannon Faith Company, Thick & Tight, Vidya Patel, Hawk Dance Theatre, Carlos Pons Guerra, Cahoots NI, Joe Garbett, Urban Conceptz, Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, Joss Arnott, ThickSkin Theatre and more, and has performed nationally and internationally, in locations such as Belgium, China, India and the USA.

Anna Clock
Devising Performer, Composer and Sound Designer
Anna Clock is a composer, sound designer, writer and dramaturg. Their work spans theatre, film, radio, installation, written texts and live music. Recent theatre work includes: Hothouse at Dublin Fringe Festival; Jason Und Medea Medley at Staatsschauspiel Dresden; Graceland at the Royal Court; A Family Business for China Plate and Staatstheater Mainz; Kabul Goes Pop at Brixton House; Electric Rosary at the Royal Exchange Manchester; The Beauty Queen of Leenane at the Lyric Hammersmith; Crave at Chichester Festival Theatre; Speak Softly, Go Far, a digital work for the Abbey Theatre; Another Planet at Lakeside Arts; Mystery Trip for Nigel & Louise; [BLANK] (also Lyric Hammersmith) and Inside at the Orange Tree; The Effect for English Theatre Frankfurt; Earthquakes in London at Guildhall School of Music and Drama; I Wanna Be Yours for Paines Plough, Tamasha, the Bush and on UK Tour; Not F**kin’ Sorry, Shuck ‘n’ Jive, Soft Animals and Fabric at Soho Theatre; Groove and Looking Forward at BAC; and Mary & Maria at Camden People’s Theatre. They have also presented work at Wellcome Collection, Harrow & Wealdstone Library, V & A Museum, Museum of Science and Industry, Copeland Gallery, Cooper Gallery, and a range of site specific locations across the UK, Ireland and Germany. Their audio works have been played on Radio 4, Radio 3, Resonance FM and RTE Lyric radio. They are one half of performance art duo Both And alongside Hester Stefan Chillingworth and are currently lead artist for the South London wing of ‘Hello Stranger’, the National Exhibition project for The Prague Quadrennial 2023.

Sam Ford
Devising Performer
Born and raised in Croydon, Sam Ford’s introduction to dance and performance was through tap dancing, which instilled a love for rhythmical exploration and a curiosity to explore freedom within movement. He trained at the Brit School, Northern School of Contemporary Dance and as a part of EDge at London Contemporary Dance School. Since graduating, he has worked professionally for many prestigious choreographers, directors and institutions such as: Daniel Kramer, Jamaal Burkmar, Barnaby Booth, Tony Adigun, Avant Garde Dance, Danielle Agami, Barbora Horakova, Rhiannon Faith Company and the English National Opera. His work has spanned across the industry appearing in commercials, film and music videos. Alongside his performance work, Sam Ford is Co-Artistic Director of award-winning dance company Northern Rascals, with which he has created nationally touring works, with support and funding from established organisations such as Arts Council England, NSCD and The Place.

Shelly Eva Haden
Devising Performer and Rehearsal Director
Shelley Eva Haden is a Birmingham-based dance artist who was nominated in the outstanding female performance category at the 2017 National Dance Awards. She graduated from the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2014 with a first class BA (Hons) in Contemporary Dance Performance, having become the first-ever student to achieve 100% on the solo choreography assessment – her Silver Shelter is now part of the school’s repertoire. Work includes performances with Aletta Collins, Corey Baker Dance, Frauke Requardt, Gary Clarke Company, Jamaal Burkmar for Extended Play, Maxine Doyle for Punchdrunk, Neus Gil Cortés for Nua Dance, ORIANTHEATRE Dance Company, Rhiannon Faith Company (also as rehearsal director), Rosie Kay Dance Company, Southpaw Dance Company and Tamsin Fitzgerald for 2Faced Dance Company.
Her work as a choreographer, educator and movement director spans commissions, independent projects, TV/film and opera. She most recently worked on the choreographic team for Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony and was nominated for One Dance UK’s People’s Choice Award 2022. Other credits include work with ABBA, BBC Arts, Birmingham Opera Company, Channel 4, Gotts Street Park, Opera North, Royal Danish Opera, StaatsOper Berlin and Scottish Opera.

Donald Hutera
Devising Performer
Donald Hutera is a US-born devising performer, actor, dancer, freelance arts writer (currently for The Times and The Stage), dramaturg, lecturer and post-show host, performance curator, occasional PR and mentor who has lived in the UK for more than half his life. He has written widely about theatre, especially on dance, mime and circus, for a host of publications, websites and arts organisations in the UK and abroad. These include the New York and Los Angeles Times, Time Out London, The Scotsman, Glasgow Herald, Dance Magazine, Dance Umbrella and The List. He co-authored (with Allen Robertson) The Dance Handbook, contributed to several other reference books and edited The Rough Guide to Choreography as well as the magazine Animated. He has lectured on dance and performance for, among others, The Foundation for Community Dance (now People Dancing) and in China (ArtsCross) and South Korea (SIDance), and mentored aspiring writers for English National Ballet, Aerowaves' Springback Academy and many more. He curated several seasons of performances for the platform GOlive in London, Oxford and Winchester and the pop-up Chelsea Arts Collective, and served on numerous arts panels including National Dance Awards UK, Total Theatre Awards, Unlimited (commissioning), Casa Festival, Arts Council England and Theatre Book Awards. As a 'maker' himself he received two creation commissions apiece from Guardians of Doubt (GoD) and InTRANSIT Festival for indoor and outdoor performances. Work on stage as actor and director include Illusion Theater, Penumbra and Magic Circle Ensemble in his native Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. In the UK he has danced with The Featherstonehaughs, the former Ballet Theatre Francais de Nancy and was part of the roving ensemble in the performance collective Duckie's promenade show, Princess. He is proud to be a member of both Rhiannon Faith Company and the Duckie off-shoot, Posh Club*Dance Club aka PC*DC. Lay Down Your Burdens is his third production with Rhiannon Faith Company following DROWNTOWN (and its film prequel DROWNTOWN LOCKDOWN) and 9 Acts of Care (part of The Care House Project).

India Shan Merrett
Devising Performer and Composer
India Shan Merrett is a violinist, versatile musician and educator, with strong groundings in both the classical and folk traditions. Recent and ongoing projects include the exploration and performance of Irish/Scottish and Americana styles with her folk line-up, Ólta, and a rich and varied teaching career in the Peak District. This is her first production with the Rhiannon Faith Company.

Finetta Sidgwick
Devising Performer
Finetta Sidgwick is a professional dancer and teacher based in Brighton. Since graduating from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in 2016, she has gone on to work for Company TRIBE//, Punchdrunk Theatre Company and Jean Abreu, and is currently touring and performing with Rhiannon Faith Company, including the DROWNTOWN national and international tours and The Care House Project. In 2022 Finetta Sidgwick joined CoDa Dance, which specialises in dance and neurology, and delivers dance therapy classes to those with neurological disabilities at the Royal Hospital of Neuro-disability in London. Commercial work includes David Guetta X Mista Jam, AURORA, Apre and GLOWIE, among others. She teaches in England and Ireland and her class aims to deliver a mixture of improvisation and formed movement that is high energy, powerful and fun.

Sara Turner 
Devising Performer
Sara Turner practised as a social worker before following the call of the arts. She gained a first class honours degree in Performing Arts from De Montfort University in 2006 and has been passionate about combining both of these elements in her work, using arts to heal and connect. She formed a company, Permission2, to do this. It aims to create a safe space for participants to explore and play. She’s also currently studying for an MA in Comedy Writing at Falmouth University. 

Lou Cope
Dramaturg
Lou Cope is one of the UK’s most prolific and respected dramaturgs. She has worked in Europe, Australia, the Middle East, America and across the UK in theatre, opera and dance (including ballet, contemporary, South Asian, participatory, children’s and inclusive), indoors and outdoors, at all scales and in numerous contexts. Productions she has worked on have won multiple awards including two Oliviers, The Benois Prize for Dance, UK Theatre Award, National Dance Award and more. This is Lou Cope’s fourth collaboration with Rhiannon Faith Company.

Noemi Daboczi 
Designer
Noemi Daboczi is a conceptual designer and visual artist based in London. She works internationally across theatre and opera design, film production design and art photography, with each creative practice informing the others. Daboczi believes in the community-building power of art and she harnesses her curiosity to uncover connections between seemingly mismatched ideas in an effort to explore the experiences that connect us all. Her Hungarian heritage and passion for European theatre deeply influence her way of thinking and aesthetic. Her recent work includes set and costume design for Arminio at the Royal Opera House. She was associate designer for Katie Mitchell’s Olivier Award-nominated Theodora at the ROH, and of Simon Stone’s Innocence for Finnish National Opera, working closely with both directors. Her design for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Romanian Szigligeti Theatre exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum. She’s been working with Punchdrunk on several upcoming projects, and her extensive film experience includes production designs for clients such as Arabian Oud, Panasonic and the Savoy. She is the co-designer of L’Orféo at the Zurich Opera House and the costume designer for the forthcoming Festival of New Choreography at the Royal Opera House in 2024. 

Bethany Gupwell
Lighting Designer
Previous work at the Barbican includes A Play for the Living in a Time of Extinction (and on UK tour) with Headlong Theatre. Other recent work includes: This Much I Know and To Have and to Hold at Hampstead Theatre; You Heard Me at the ARC Stockton; Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not To Come, Fitter and Wonder Winterland at Soho Theatre; War and Culture, Little Scratch and Keep Watching at the New Diorama; La Voix Humaine at Opéra National du Rhin; A Rice and Little Baby Jesus at the Orange Tree; Wickies and When Darkness Falls for Park 200; Here and The Woods at Southwark Playhouse; Talking Heads at Watford Palace; Ignition for Frantic Assembly; The Pirate, The Princess and the Platypus at Polka; A-Typical Rainbow at the Turbine Theatre (Best Lighting Design Offies nomination 2022); You Heard Me and Trade on UK tour; The Last Harvest for the National Youth Theatre; Queen of the Mist at Charing Cross Theatre (Best Lighting Design Offies nomination 2019); I’d Rather Go Blind for Omnibus Theatre; and Dracula at Leicester Curve.

John Victor
Lead Composer
John Victor studied music at the University of Westminster before joining Gengahr, a four-piece indie group from London. He is a lead guitarist and music producer. Their debut AA-side single, ‘Powder/Bathed In Light’ was released October 2014 on Transgressive Records which brought them praise from Radio 1’s Huw Stephens and 6Music’s Lauren Laverne, and landed them on bills alongside Wolf Alice, Superfood, alt-J, Dry The River and The Maccabees. Their debut full-length A Dream Outside (recorded at Middle Farm Studios with James Bragg) was released by Transgressive, and received recognition in Q, the Guardian, DIY and NME, with singles ‘Heroine’ and ‘She’s A Witch’ achieving playlist additions at both 6Music and Radio 1. The band released their third album Sanctuary in 2020 on Liberator Records with Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club as producer. John Victor has recently worked with Rhiannon Faith Company to create the score to DROWNTOWN LOCKDOWN and DROWNTOWN.

Dan Hunt
Sound and System Designer
Dan Hunt trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, studying sound design. His recent sound designs include: Riverstage Festival 2023 at the National Theatre; Captain Corelli’s Mandolin in the West End and on UK tour; Beauty and the Beast at Malvern Festival Theatre; Singin’ in the Rain and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the New Theatre, Cardiff; and West Side Story at the Jerwood Theatre. Other productions include: The Witches at the National Theatre; Sunset Blvd and Thriller Live in the West End; Evita on tour in Germany and the UK; The Full Monty, Six the Musical, The Sound of Music, The Play That Goes Wrong, RENT! 20th Anniversary and Shrek the Musical all on UK tour; Pieces of String at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Spring Awakening at the Hope Mill Theatre; The Lady in the Van and A Midsummer Night's Dream at Theatre Royal, Bath; Only the Brave at Wales Millennium Centre; and Thriller Live in Japan, Korea and on UK tour.

Jack Boissieux
Production Manager
Jack Boissieux is a freelance production manager, working across multiple disciplines. His latest work ranges from theatre, international and national touring, corporate events, musical theatre and opera. Work includes: The Choir Of Man and Bluey's Big Play both on international tour; Festival Production Manager for Waterperry Opera Festival 2021-2023, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen at the Bush; Pied Piper at BAC and on national tour; The Borrowers at Theatre By the Lake; An Improbable Musical at Hackney Empire and on national tour; Berlusconi and Anything Is Possible If You Think About It Hard Enough at Southwark Playhouse - Elephant; Saving Face at Curve; the National Youth Theatre Annual Fundraising Gala (2021-2023), Punchdrunk Enrichment (multiple venues); Habibti Driver at the Octagon Theatre; LAVA on UK tour; When We Dead Awaken at the Coronet Theatre; and Jungle Rumble at the Fortune Theatre.

Presented by the Barbican

Co-commissioned by the Barbican, London and Harlow Playhouse. With support from Oxford Playhouse, Déda, and South East Dance. Funded using public money from Arts Council England.

With thanks to Restoke and the Lay Down Your Burdens Creative Friends.

Image credits: Foteini Christofilopoulou