CPR Performance Archive

SUSAN & DARREN: A Performance Event by Quarantine and Company Fierce (UK) [October 2007]
Wed 31st Oct, Thurs 1st and Fri 2nd Nov, 8.00pm

CPR Visiting Artists series presents

Susan & Darren

By Quarantine and Company Fierce

Originally co-produced with queerupnorth and Contact

‘...one of the most original, intimate, warmly human and movingly open-hearted shows I've seen in a very long time...The banal and the beautiful, the tragic and the joyful, exist side by side, just as they do in life, in a marvellous show which is as full of surprises as it is of life-affirming love. Manchester Evening News


‘…un o’r sioeau mwyaf gwreiddiol, agos atoch, cynnes o ddynol a gwefreiddiol o galon-agored a welais ers tro byd… Y diddim a’r prydferth, y truenus a’r afieithus, yno ochr-yn-ochr, yn union fel y maen nhw mewn bywyd, a hynny mewn sioe ryfeddol sydd yr un mor llawn o droeon annisgwyl ag y mae o gariad twymgalon.‘
Manchester Evening News


"There is no company in the UK working quite in the area of Quarantine, a truly wonderful company that uses the lives and experiences of real people as the starting point for all their shows and who put their subjects centre stage and let them speak for themselves... Everywhere Quarantine delves, it uncovers the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary and banal." Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

Susan & Darren features 28-year old dancer/choreographer Darren Pritchard and his 52 year old mum, Susan Pritchard, who works as a cleaner. Darren lives at home in Manchester with Susan, in the house that he grew up in.

Quarantine and Company Fierce have re-created one of Susan and Darren's famous parties, where Susan will prepare a buffet, and there will be dancing. The audience are invited to sample the buffet and dance to Susan and Darren's favourite records and listen, as Susan and Darren tell stories from their extraordinary lives. Friends and neighbours might pop in. They're close, Darren and Susan. At night Darren sits on Susan's bed and they talk about everything. Everything. You could say they feed each other. Come and join the party.

"It's the best night out I can remember. I'm moved, almost to tears, by the honesty, directness and clarity in the performance, and have great fun at the party! This is poignancy unadorned. Extraordinary ordinary lives celebrating just being." Miriam King, Total Theatre

Quarantine have fast developed an international reputation as one of Britain's most distinctive creators of new theatre, creating a unique body of work that blends incredible invention with an intimate contact with reality. They won Arts Council England's art05 award for outstanding achievement. Company Fierce has established itself as an original and inventive Manchester-based urban dance company, and won Arts Council England's art06 award for its work with young people.

Darren Pritchard will lead a dance workshop before each performance of Susan & Darren that will alter the course of that night's show. All ages & levels of dance experience are welcome. It's free to ticket-holders for the performance, but booking is essential.

£9 (£7 Concessions)

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