From pits of despair to the rise of rave...
CHOREOGRAPHER BRINGS NEW WORK TO STAGE
AS industrial Britain fell, a new subculture emerged...
Gary Clarke’s Wasteland, the sequel to multi-award winning show COAL, comes to Huddersfield, celebrating the birth of UK rave culture.
Capturing a pivotal moment in social history, acclaimed choreographer Clarke’s explosive Wasteland explores that time when despair turned into euphoria as the ravaged landscape of post-industrial Britain was transformed by the illegal rave culture of the 1990s and for an instant, it seemed music and dance might save the day.
Created to mark the 25th anniversary of the demolition of Grimethorpe Colliery in South Yorkshire and 30 years since the rise of UK rave culture, Wasteland is a thrilling yet deeply touching dance theatre production and the eagerly-awaited sequel to COAL.
The show comes to Huddersfield as part of its autumn tour, with performances at the Lawrence Batley Theatre on November 12 and 13.
The striking miners of COAL fought for their families, their livelihoods, their communities, their futures and for an industry. But what happened to the families who survived the epic yearlong battle of the Miners’ Strike of 1984/85?
Wasteland looks at how two different generations coped in this turbulent era of radical upheaval as industrial Britain fell and a new subculture emerged.
As one generation grinds exhaustedly to a halt, the next generation heads into the illegal rave scene of 1990s Britain, where derelict warehouses and abandoned work spaces become home for a new community of music and dance.
“For our generation, the future was very bleak with very little prospect,” said Gary. “The rave culture gave many of us the opportunity to escape these grim and grey realities and into a new world of music and dance where we could express our inner feelings, desires and frustrations.”
In 1994, Gary joined family, friends and neighbours to witness the downfall of Grimethorpe Colliery, an act of ruination that not only marked another nail in the coffin of Britain’s mining industry but also added to the destruction of the working-class community that surrounded it.
Wasteland is based on Gary’s own experience of reaching maturity at the height of the rave movement and also on many hours of interviews with former miners and with people who, like him, found escape through rave’s music and alternative sub culture.
And by studying the movement of rave captured in archive footage, he found a way to take something improvised, spontaneous and free and transform into a structural but still exhilarating form of theatre.
The show brings together Gary’s blistering physical dance language performed by a company of exceptional dancers - headed by COAL’s lead dancer Alistair Goldsmith as the Last Miner and Reece Calver as The Boy - and a cast of four male singers (unique to each venue) from local and surrounding communities, playing the role of the Pit Men Singers - a total of 76 men throughout the tour of 18 venues nationally in 2019/20.
Also, on stage will be two brass musicians, specially selected for every venue from the 14 championship brass bands who made such a vital and important contribution to the success of COAL.
“Like COAL, communities are at the heart of Wasteland and it felt wrong to make a new show about communities without involving them,” said Gary.
Rare archive film footage brings the era to life - capturing both the tragedy of mining’s last days and the exhilaration of rave’s roots - along with a powerful rave sound score by Charles Webber and unique art work by Jimmy Cauty, co-founder of The KLF.
Wasteland reunites the production and creative team that made COAL such a major hit with critics and audiences.
The producer is Gary’s long time mentor and collaborator Annabel Dunbar.
Dramaturgy is by Lou Cope, with costumes and set by designer Ryan Dawson Laight and other sound design by Daniel Thomas.
Musical direction is again by Steven Roberts, bringing outstanding community singers and brass musicians to the stage.
Gary Clarke Company dancers are: Alistair Goldsmith,
Reece Calver, Robert Anderson, Emily Thompson Smith, Elena Thomas Voilquin and Jake Evans.