PREVIEW: The Lovers by Spun Glass Theatre

Brighton-based Spun Glass Theatre are currently researching and developing a theatre project.

THE project examines why we fall in love and what happens when we lose control of our senses, while exploring ideas of gender, sexuality, and LGBTQ representation.

The piece follows the four lovers from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and will feature live onstage animations and soundscapes.

A work-in-progress showing of this piece will take place on Wednesday, March 11 at The Marlborough Theatre from 7.45pm.

Spun Glass Theatre is a Brighton-based theatre company formed in 2009 to create engaging work that examines the nature of love. They have made shows about romances, unrequited love and long-distance relationships. Our work is atmospheric, truthful and intimate.

They focus on devising new theatre pieces by distilling classic texts, infusing autobiographical theatre with well-loved characters from Chekhov, Tennessee Williams and Shakespeare.

Recent work includes the Argus Angel award-winning You Left Me In the Dark, a devised piece of new writing inspired by Chekhov’s The Seagull; Laura, an intimate distillation of Williams’ The Glass Menagerie; and Ink, exploring the personal impact of media scrutiny on national tragedies.

They want to open up their work to audiences across the country; to involve real people in the discussion of LGBTQ representation onstage, and in their production, and to invite them to share their stories.

They have already held two free symposium events at The Blue Man Cafe in Brighton, which featured informal discussions with a panel of representatives from charities and the arts, including Lunch Positive and Mind Out in Brighton.

By opening up the rehearsal process in this way, and by live streaming the symposiums through their YouTube channel (Spun Glass Theatre), they engaged audiences across the country in the discussion of these issues, who joined in at home by asking questions.