A Festival of Sex, Love & Death

Festival Director: Sophie Gilpin

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10 days, 8 companies, 5 events

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The clock ticks. The cards are dealt. The game of life begins. 

 

Sex, love and death come in many forms. They make us feel joy, passion, pain, fear, despair… Join HeadFirst Productions at the Pleasance Theatre for a ten day celebration of the powerful forces that make us human.

 

A Festival of Sex, Love and Death brings together a selection of the UK’s most exciting theatre makers. With Mozart’s masterpiece Don Giovanni at its heart, #SLDfest has something for everyone; opera, dance, cabaret, new writing, and physical theatre.

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SEX, LOVE & DEATH: DON GIOVANNI

Don Giovanni lives solely for his own pleasure and women are seduced by his desire for them. After all, to be desired is – in return – desirable. He wants women to want him. Until they do, of course. 

Sung in Italian with English surtitles and performed with a small orchestral ensemble.

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SEX: SUBMISSION & LADYLIKE

​Submission tells the story of Sameer, a young British Pakistani, who struggles to reconcile his sexual desires with a religion he values, admires and cherishes.

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Described as a ‘stunning and provocative piece’, Ladylike is an absurd, comical, and emotionally charged ritual of dance theatre.
 

LOVE: THE EXTRAORDINARY CABARET OF DORAN GRAY

Set in the last few delirious hours of his life, Dorian Gray watches as his decadent life flashes before him. With original music performed by a cast of actor/musicians and cabaret artists.

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DEATH: BURIED ALIVE & MORTGAGE

A song cycle which tells the story of a man who awakes to find he has mistakenly been buried. 

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A furiously visceral show, Mortgage tells the unbearably tragi-comic story of the painfully abused and miserable short and boring life of Beatrice Gunta Mortgage - Stage Manager.

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SEX & DEATH: WHALEBONE & SILENT MEAT

Irreverent feminist theatre, narrated by a talking vagina.

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Set across three continents, Silent Meat is an exploration of what it feels like to love, lose and feel alone in the 21st century.

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SPECIAL EVENT: MASTERCLASS WITH SIR THOMAS ALLEN

A very special afternoon watching Sir Thomas work with the Don Giovanni chorus and understudies in a rare opportunity to catch a glimpse of the creative process of learning a role.