Overview
Led by internationally celebrated choreographer Hofesh Shechter, a thrilling new double bill presents two distinctly contrasting pieces for our times.
One half of the evening is Clowns, a sarcastic nod to our ever-growing indifference to violence, originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and later produced as a widely acclaimed film and broadcast by the BBC. In a macabre comedy of murder and desire, Clowns unleashes a whirlwind of choreographed anarchy, testing how far we are willing to go in the name of entertainment.
As an antidote to the murderous, poisonous energy of Clowns, Shechter’s new creation, The Fix, brings tender, fragile energy to the stage. Shifting through myriad emotions – from those raw and compassionate life moments to the violence and aggressions that can creep in daily – Shechter brings an achingly beautiful and cinematic lens to the human qualities that shield and protect us from the noise of life outside.
Performed by his inimitable dancers and accompanied by the epic sounds of a Shechter-composed score, Double Murder explores painful truths and delves into our deepest emotions.
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About Hofesh Shechter Company
Hofesh Shechter Company is a boundary-breaking dance company producing exceptional work created by Hofesh Shechter, with an extraordinary company of internationally diverse dancers at its core. Based in the UK but playing on major stages worldwide, their work celebrates and inspires the freedom of the human spirit. They believe that dance can poke and tap into our deepest emotions — an instinctive, deep-rooted part of ourselves that we rarely access in modern life.
Founded in 2008, their repertoire includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms (2007), The Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut (2011), Sun (2013), barbarians (2015) and Grand Finale (2017), with SHOW (2018) and POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED (2020) performed by Shechter II, their apprentice program. They have played in cities globally, including Paris, New York, Melbourne, Tokyo, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Rome, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro and many more.
Their touring show Grand Finale was nominated for an Olivier Award (2018) and Helpmann Award (2019) for Best Dance Production and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Touring Production (2019).
They collaborate on exceptional, large-scale projects of the highest quality to world-leading venues within the UK and internationally and create digital projects with global reach. Recent projects include a revival of Hofesh’s production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice at La Scala, Milan (2018), co-directed with John Fulljames, East Wall (2018), their four-year talent development project, which culminated in a large-scale spectacle of dance and live music at the Tower of London, in partnership with East London Dance, Historic Royal Palaces and LIFT. BBC Two presented their first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns (2018), which was broadcast as part of the Performance Live strand.
In 2020, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns was presented globally online and won Best International Short Dance Film at CHOREOSCOPE – Barcelona International Dance Film Festival. Their world premiere of Double Murder was postponed due to COVID-19. New online audiences were reached through live streams of POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED from Théâtre des Abbesses in Paris, digital Zoom streams of Shechter’s Untitled, in addition to a hybrid learning program. The Hofesh Shechter Company was also named the winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet for LIGHT: Bach Dances, in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera and co-directed by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.
In 2021, Shechter II planned a return to live theatre audiences with POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED and will feature in a new short dance film for a summer release. Shechter’s new creation Double Murder and LIGHT: Bach Dances will also premiere this year.
About Hofesh Shechter, Choreography and Music
Choreographer Hofesh Shechter is one of the most exciting artists making stage work today, renowned for composing atmospheric musical scores to complement the unique physicality of his movement. He is the Artistic Director of the UK-based Hofesh Shechter Company, formed in 2008. The company are residents at Brighton Dome, and Shechter is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells.
Hofesh Shechter’s repertoire for the company includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms (2007), The Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut (2011), Sun (2013), barbarians (2015), Grand Finale (2017), SHOW (2018) and POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED (2020). Grand Finale was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production.
Shechter has also staged and choreographed works for leading international dance companies, including the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Batsheva Ensemble, Candoco Dance Company, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater 1, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet and Royal Ballet Flanders.
He has choreographed for theatre, television and opera, notably at the Metropolitan Opera (New York) for Nico Mulhy’s Two Boys, the Royal Court on Motortown and The Arsonists, the National Theatre on Saint Joan and for the Channel 4 series Skins. As part of #HOFEST, a 4-week festival celebrating Shechter’s work across four iconic London venues, he co-directed Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice with John Fulljames at the Royal Opera House. In 2016 he received a Tony Award nomination for his choreography for the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof. In 2018 Shechter was awarded an honorary OBE for Services to Dance, and the company’s first dance film, Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns, was broadcast by the BBC in September to great acclaim.
In 2020,Hofesh Shechter Company was named the winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet for LIGHT: Bach Dances, in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera and co-directed by Hofesh Shechter and John Fulljames.
About Peter Todd, Costumer Designer for The Fix
Peter Todd studied design at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As Costume Designer, he has collaborated with many choreographers and companies, including several works with Richard Alston (like recent works Voices and Light Footsteps and Chacony), Martin Lawrance (Burning and Body and Soul), Will Tucket, Henri Oguike, Robert Cohan, Lea Anderson, Wendy Houstoun, Mthuthuzeli November, Clod Ensemble, Ballet Black and Yorke Dance Project.
Recent theatre design includes costumes for The Snow Queen, Hansel and Gretel and A Christmas Carol for the Rose Theatre, Kingston and Frankenstein for Aquila Theatre.
As Costume Supervisor, recent projects include Daddy and The Hunt for the Almeida Theatre, The Lost Thing for The Royal Opera House/CandoCo, Stories and As You Like It for the National Theatre, Julius Caesar for the London Theatre Company at the Bridge Theatre, A Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer for Complicite/NT, People Places and Things for Headlong/NT, Flight Pattern by Crystal Pite and Unearthed with Chris Ofili, both for the Royal Ballet.
About Lee Curran, Lighting Designer for Clowns
Lee Curran’s work with Hofesh Shechter includes Orpheé et Eurydice (ROH & Teatro Alla Scala), Untouchable (Royal Ballet), Sun, Political Mother, The Art of Not Looking Back, In your rooms and Uprising.
Other dance programs include Blak Whyte Gray (Boy Blue Entertainment), Rosalind, Within Her Eyes, Everything & Nothing (James Cousins) and Tomorrow, Frames, Curious Conscience (Rambert).
Theatre credits include Constellations (Royal Court/West End/Broadway/UK tour), Jesus Christ Superstar (Regent’s Park Open Air), Gundog, Road, Nuclear War, a profoundly affectionate passionate devotion to someone (-noun), X, Linda (Royal Court), Summer & Smoke (Almeida), The Lady From The Sea, Splendour (Donmar Warehouse), Jubilee (Royal Exchange, Manchester & Lyric Hammersmith), Cover My Tracks (Old Vic), Hamlet, Blindsided (Royal Exchange, Manchester), Doctor Faustus, Love’s Sacrifice (RSC); Imogen (Globe), The Weir (ETT), The Spoils (West End), Black Men Walking (Eclipse/touring), A Number (Nuffield/Young Vic), Mametz (National Theatre Wales), Protest Song (National), Depart (LIFT), Boys Will Be Boys (Headlong/Bush) and Kissing the Shotgun Goodnight (UK).
Credits
Double Murder (Clowns / The Fix)
CHOREOGRAPHY & MUSIC BY HOFESH SHECHTER
PERFORMED BY HOFESH SHECHTER COMPANY
CREATIVE TEAM
Choreography & Music: Hofesh Shechter
Associate Artistic Director: Bruno Guillore
Lighting Design, The Fix: Tom Visser
Costume Design, The Fix: Peter Todd
Lighting Design, Clowns: Lee Curran
Additional Lighting Design, Clowns: Richard Godin
Based on costume designs for Clowns by Christina Cunningham
DANCERS
Robinson Cassarino, Frédéric Despierre, Rachel Fallon, Emma Farnell-Watson, Mickaël Frappat, Natalia Gabrielczyk, Charles Heinrich, Yeji Kim, Zee Zunnur, Juliette Valerio
MUSIC
Composer: Hofesh Shechter
Additional music:
Clowns:
“Can Can” Composed by Jacques Offenbach Published by BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited, a BMG Company © Used with permission. All rights reserved.
“The Sun” Performed by Kim Jung Mi. Written by Shin Joong Hyun (KOMCA) Published by Shin Joong Hyun MVD (KOMCA). Courtesy of Light in the Attic Records
The Fix:
“Le Roi Renaud” (instrumental version) from Pierre Bensusan #2 (Dadgad Music – DM1002), composed by Pierre Bensusan (Sacem, Paris, France).
PRODUCTION TEAM
Technical Manager Paul Froy
Re-lighter Andrej Gubanov
Sound Technician Tom Penny
Stage Manager Leon Smith
Tour Manager Rebecca Moore
Access Info
If you require wheelchair or accessible seating, please contact our Box Office ahead of time at tickets@harbourfrontcentre.com or phone (416) 973-4000, Option 1 – Wednesday–Friday from 1-5pm.
Dates & Times
October 27
7:30pm
95 mins
October 28
7:30pm
95 mins
October 29
7:30pm – Sold Out
95 mins
There will be a 20 minute intermission at each performance.
There will be a Q&A following the October 28 performance.
Venue
Fleck Dance Theatre in Queen's Quay Terminal
207 Queens Quay West, 3rd Floor
Follow signs and take escalator or elevator