Lyceum stage revealed

Nov 3 2020 | By More

New configuration revealed in Kitson show

When Daniel Kitson’s new show Dot. Dot. Dot. opened live from the Lyceum stage on Sunday November 1, 2020, it revealed the full extent of the theatre’s new boarded-over auditorium.

The show is touring to venues in November with Kitson performing on stage at each one via a Vimeo link – to an audience no greater than each venue’s capacity. Before the show starts, audiences are treated to a static shot from the auditorium onto the stage.

At the Lyceum it was from the upper balcony, looking down onto the stage and as far as the rear wall of the backstage area, which has clearly been freshly boarded over.

The Lyceum stage extended out into the auditorium, viewed from the upper circle. Pre-show screengrab from Dot.Dot. Dot.

This is the new staging which will be used by the Lyceum theatre company for the first time on the evening of Tuesday 3 November 2020, when David Greig and Apphia Campbell host a US election night cabaret of performance and conversation, which will be live streamed direct from the Lyceum from 8pm.

Besides hosting, Campbell will perform excerpts from her award-winning play Woke. Other special guests will include Mezzo-Soprano Andrea Baker, comedians Desiree Burch and Sooz Kempner, Ballboy’s Gordon McIntyre, performer Gabriel Quigley and celebrated folk artist Karine Polwart.

Kitson’s show chronicle’s the comedian’s journey through lockdown in London in a poignant and typically sharp, if whimsical series of anecdotes. He performs with his back to the auditorium, at a table covered in Post-it Notes, each with a cue to a different anecdote.

full extent

With the camera view changed and the show, proper, just about to start on Sunday night, Kitson stepped out from his seat to show the audience the world from which he was performing.

The move allowed a glimpse of the full extent of the changes made to the auditorium so it can be turned into a cabaret-style venue, with boarded over stalls. The rake of the stage itself has been levelled and the boards can  be seen to extend right to the back of the stalls and under the circle.

Daniel Kitson seen from the Lyceum stage. Behind him, the new boarding extends up to and under the circle. Screengrab from Dot. Dot. Dot.

Unlike Kitson, who used the theatre’s auditorium as scenery for his own play which he performed alone, the Lyceum’s US Election Night Cabaret will allow for socially distanced performances, filmed in the theatre.

Highlights include two traditional spirituals, Another Man Done Gone and Steal Away, performed by American-born Mezzo-Soprano Andrea Baker, with her regular accompanist Richard Lewis. Music from Ballboy’s Gordon McIntyre, who created Midsummer, a Play with Songs with David Greig, will include a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA.

Speaking of the cabaret, Greig says: “It feels like a hinge moment in human history, the start of a new chapter or the continuation of a very bizarre and very particular reality show.

“It feels like a good moment to take a pause to reflect on the last four years on American democracy, on the American Dream and what is means to all of us.”

Listings

US Election Night Cabaret
Tuesday 3 November 2020
Evening: 8pm
An eclectic and intimate evening of performance and conversation streamed live from The Lyceum stage. Hosted by David Greig and Apphia Campbell, guests will include Mezzo-Soprano Andrea Baker accompanied by Richard Lewis, comedian and presenter Desiree Burch, comedian and singer Sooz Kempner, songwriter and artist Ballboy’s Gordon McIntyre, folk singer and Karine Polwart, and performer Gabriel Quigley. Book here.

ENDS

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