Motionhouse bring Broken to Worthing

Combining athleticism with gravity-defying dance, overlaid with intricate digital imagery and original music, Broken promises an adrenaline-fuelled spectacle when it comes to Worthing.

Created by artistic director Kevin Finnan, choreographer and movement director for the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, and building on the success of international hit Scattered, Motionhouse’s latest production examines our precarious relationship with the earth.

Motionhouse was established in 1988 by Kevin and by Louise Richards. Its performances are rooted in dance but draw on theatre, circus, acrobatics and film to create a four-dimensional experience. And most importantly of all, it’s still going strong; “It has been quite an achievement. 27 years! It’s longer than a lot of marriages,” Kevin laughs.” But we have always committed to the process of continually developing what we do. The work we do now is very different to the work we did at the start. We really do try to challenge ourselves. I think the work a young artist makes is very much influenced by all your training and all the art you grew up with. You come out enthused by what you got at art school and you make work which then collides with the real world, and that continual butting up with reality starts to shape the work you make and how you make it.

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“We don’t just make a show and then make a different one. We have really expanded in all areas how we engage with people. We now have small shows that we perform on the streets. We have large-scale spectacles for huge audiences. We have theatre shows and we have intimate shows, and all of those offer different experiences, exploiting what we do. It has been a fascinating journey. You realise that it becomes a mission!”

As for the latest show: “I am not one for polemics. I don’t believe in that. It doesn’t suit the way I make work, but I really wanted to make a show that drew on our relationship with the earth, and from the title I chose, I think you can see my view of it. But it is not a show which says ‘This is terrible!’ I just wanted to make a show that people will engage with, that they will feel, watching it, they have had an experience, and then afterwards they will start thinking...”

Broken is at the Connaught Theatre on Tuesday, June 2 at 7.30pm. 01903 206206.