Theatre Cryptic
Background
Productions
Theatre Cryptic produces innovative and exciting work, with forthcoming productions touring to Vancouver in April 2007 and Singapore in June 2007.
Theatre Cryptic was established in 1994 by Artistic Director Cathie Boyd. The Glasgow-based company is 'committed to creating multi-disciplinary projects to 'ravish the senses', through international co-productions and commissions'. Past collaborations have involved the Latvian Radio Choir and Supermusique in Montreal.
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Theatre Cryptic’s staged musical productions use new technologies for sound and visuals. This aspect of their work has been furthered through Cathie Boyd’s NESTA (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) Fellowship, awarded in 2001. |
Since 1995 Theatre Cryptic has been invited to perform at festivals in Central and South America, Canada, Croatia, France, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy and Latvia, as well as London and Edinburgh. The company has also won a number of prestigious awards, including Arts & Business's 'Sponsorship By a Small Business' in 2003 for their creative partnership with Parallel 56, and was Fringe First Winner at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996 for Parallel Lines. Cathie Boyd won Junior Chamber's Outstanding Young Person Award in 2003 and European Woman of Achievements for the Arts award in 1999, and in 2002 was nominated as a finalist in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Initiative.
Theatre Cryptic is billed at the Edinburgh International Festival this year and has European tours of Optical Identity planned in Autumn 2007, following their international tour of Each…And Every Inch.
Each...And Every Inch
Originally commissioned in 2002 for the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow, in collaboration with Supermusique in Montreal, Each…and Every Inch is being revived to tour at The Vancouver East Cultural Centre from 18 - 29 April 2007. This tour is in conjunction with Vancouver New Music and promises to be a mix of multi-media and heightened emotions. Only six people at a time can experience the site-specific piece, which lasts approximately one hour.
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Each…And Every Inch provides an intense insight into the life and work of Elizabeth Smart. Smart was born in Ottawa in 1913. She fell in love with poet George Barker through reading his work, tracked him down and they began a tempestuous, passionate and ultimately tragic love affair. |
Smart had four children by Barker and raised them as a single mother in the 1940s, in an eccentric literary fashion. She wrote for and edited journals including Harpers and Queen until she died in 1986.
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This unique journey promises the visitor 'passion, obsession, seduction and destruction, giving an insight into Smart's extraordinary life, discovering her passionate fantasies, obsessions, secrets, jealousy, and gardening madness'. |
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The original 2002 production was supported by Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Arts Council, British Council, CALQ and Parallel 56. The work was re-staged at Scotland's Theatre Gateway during the Edinburgh Festival in 2004, Theatre Cryptic’s 10th anniversary year. The latest production is a collaboration with composers Anthea Haddow (Glasgow) and Diane Labrosse (Montreal), 3D artist Brian McClave (Brighton) and visual artist Duncan MacAskill (London). Music, text, visuals, live cello duet, 3D video and ambient sound installations are combined in the performance.
Optical Identity
This wholly new project sees Theatre Cryptic and the Singapore-based T’ang Quartet collaborate for the first time to produce a beautiful piece that appeals to the senses and allows the audience to lose themselves in pure music. The piece was commissioned by the Singapore Arts Festival with the intent to challenge presumptions about the way classical music is presented and perceived, resulting in 'music to be looked at … not just listened to'. Optical Identity uses technology to enhance the playing of the Quartet whilst remaining true to their recognised repertoire of classical music. The performers will move freely around the stage, accompanied by live visuals. Interactive technologies which respond to the Quartet’s playing and movement.
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The 80 minute performance will include Kevin Volans' White Man Sleeps, Franghiz Ali Zadeh's Mugam Sayagi for quartet, percussion and tape, Rolf Wallin's Phonotope 1 for quartet and live electronics, followed by a commission. The set will be designed by Jason Ong, and Singaporean fashion designer Baylene will design the Quartet’s outfits. Nich Smith, who has collaborated with Theatre Cryptic in the past, is the lighting designer. Interactive technologies and visuals, which will be played live, are by Swiss digital artist Jasch. |
Optical Identity will be premiered at the Singapore Arts Festival on 31 May 2007 and will be followed by a European tour in the autumn of 2007. The work will also be performed at the 2007 Edinburgh International Festival. Video footage of Optical Identity is available on Theatre Cryptic's website.
| For more information, visit the Theatre Cryptic website. |
Theatre Cryptic is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund, Glasgow City Council and the PRS Foundation. |