'Spirit' at the New York Theatre Workshop

Spirit, by the London theatre group, Improbable, receives it New York premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop from the 13 Sep - 9 Oct 2005

At the beginning and the end of the show, three performers meet onstage, half in and half out of a steeply raked platform with no scripted lines to say and no story to act out. They have only themselves and the audience to make theatre from.

In between is a story of three bakers who are three brothers. The eldest of the brothers is sent his call up papers to fight in his country�s war, but dreaming of heroism, the youngest brother intercepts the letter and goes to war in his sibling�s place.

Spirit is about the three performers struggling to tell the story of the three brothers. It is a serious joke about cycles of conflict on the personal and the global level, and maybe just a feeling about how we might break out of them.

On the way there are headless puppets, bread rolls as puppets and a corpse as a puppet. There is strange dancing, deeply personal reminiscence and subtle, almost imperceptible improvisation.

Spirit's cast, directed by Julian Crouch and Arlene Andergon, features: Guy Dartnell, Phelim McDermott, and Lee Simpson.

The production has set design by Julian Crouch, Graeme Gilmour, Rob Thirtle, Helen McGuire, lighting design by Colin Grenfell, with sound by Andrew Paine.

Spirit was first presented at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, on 10 May 2000. It was a co-production with The Royal Court Theatre. It has toured throughout the UK and internationally to Australia, Canada, Germany and USA.

Other Improbable productions seen in New York include 70 Hill Lane (PS122), The Hanging Man (BAM), and Lifegame (Jane Street Theatre). Improbable members Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott also co-created the international hit Shockheaded Peter which recently had an extended Off-Broadway run.