Reckless Sleepers create new family show for Dartington

Theatre company Reckless Sleepers are debuting their new show, A Long Long Time, at Dartington in Devon this winter.

After the success of their touring show It’s Hot, It’s Not with London’s Unicorn Theatre, Reckless Sleepers were invited to devise the new family production, commissioned especially for Dartington Live and created on site.

A Long Long Time will run from 20 to 30 December 2019 in Studio 1 at Dartington Hall in Totnes. It promises to be “an intergalactic theatrical ride through the night sky”.

The show is described as taking children and their families “to space and back, surveying the imaginary delights of the zodiac, from wandering giants to bears, sisters, birds, fantastical creatures, gods, monsters and more”.

The festive set, which Reckless Sleepers will design and build, will take the form of a giant advent calendar where behind each door a different tale lies.

It's Hot, It's Not, Reckless Sleepers

Reckless Sleepers have delighted audiences of all ages around the world for more than 30 years with their unique, critically-acclaimed brand of visual arts, dance and contemporary performance.

They create original theatre and installation pieces for theatres, galleries and museums. It’s Hot, It’s Not was staged at Dartington during the autumn half-term after a run at the Unicorn Theatre in February and March this year.

Becca Gill, live art programme manager at Dartington, said: “We are so excited to be working with Reckless Sleepers on creating a new piece of family performance this winter. Having recently programmed It’s Hot, It’s Not, I was blown away by the audience reaction, from babies to grandparents. People were inspired by the creativity and layers of imaginative and beautiful performance.

“Unique, creative and stunning performance for young people and their adults is hard to find and we are incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to work with Reckless Sleepers on creating a new performance piece to fill this gap.”

A Long Long Time is suitable for all ages. Performances are at 11am or 3pm, with a running time of 50 minutes.

Dartington’s previous winter performances were both a success: last year’s Bedtime Stories from Upswing and 2017’s Girl With the Iron Claws from The Wrong Crowd. Dartington Live works with acclaimed artists from around the world to tackle some of today’s challenges and explore big questions in an imaginative, informative and transformative way.

Over the past two years, it has provided space and support for a number of ideas and performances which have been developed, previewed and then toured from Dartington.

Work shown at Dartington has included Still No Idea from Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence with Improbable before it went to London’s Royal Court Theatre, and Kite which was developed and previewed by The Wrong Crowd before it went on an international tour starting at Warwick Arts Centre.  Selina Thompson and Scottee worked together on a piece about adoption while Tom Marshman developed touring show A Haunted Existence which explores LBGTQ history and narrative – currently playing at Battersea Arts Centre in London.