Plan B for Utopia (2015)
‘You have a plan, and then you don’t. You have a dream, and then you wake up. You fall in love, and your heart gets broken. The question is: do you pick up the pieces and try again?’
Plan B for Utopia is a playful dance theatre work exploring the notion of utopia and the role that imagination and creativity can play as a driving force for change in our personal and collective lives. Mixing dance, theatre and storytelling, the piece creates an intimate space where audience and performers can engage in a common endeavour to re-imagine the world.
Premiered during the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the piece has been performed over 60 times and has been selected for the programme of British Dance Edition and Internationale Tanzmesse 2016 and the Made in Scotland and British Council Edinburgh Showcase in 2017. The work has also received invitations from venues and festivals such as The Place (London), Tramway (Glasgow), Brighton Festival, Tanzmainz Festival (Germany), Battersea Arts Centre (London), and the Mirabilia International Circus and Performing Arts Festival (Italy), and was shortlisted for the Fringe Sustainability Award in 2017. Click here for more information on performance dates and venues or to find out more about our creative learning programme.
Access Info: Joan Clevillé Dance is committed to making our performances as accessible as possible. Braille programmes are available from our venues, Click here to download the Large Print Programme and scroll to the bottom of this page for the Audio Programme. Please contact vicky@joanclevilledance.com if you require any further materials or if you have any questions about access.
CREATIVE TEAM :
Written and Directed by Joan Clevillé
Choreography by Joan Clevillé devised in collaboration with the dancers
Performers: Solène Weinachter and John Kendall
Costume and Set Design: Matthias Strahm
Dramaturgy Advisor: Ella Hickson
Music: Louis Armstrong, Cliff Edwards, Judy Garland, Gordon Lorenz Orchestra, Willy Mason and MyMy
Photography: Nicole Guarino and Maria Falconer
BSL Interpreters: (selected venues only) Lesley Crerar & Yvonne Strain
WITH THE SUPPORT OF :
"wholly delightful... What makes Plan B so enjoyable to watch is the way the dancers project their performances outwards, and draw the audience into the daftest and most intimate aspects of their quest." ★★★★
The Guardian
"...captured the complexity and tenderness of being hopelessly and gloriously human."
Fringe review - Brighton
Clever, funny, genuine and moving - and so stunningly performed!
Audience Member
Plan B for Utopia is one of the stand-out dance theatre pieces on show at this year’s Fringe...Solène and John are masters of movement, able to transform deep despair into joy and merriment in the blink of an eye ★★★★
Ed Fringe Review
Happiness is a matter of perspective, we are told at one point, and from my perspective I was certainly happier after seeing this show ★★★★
Mumble Dance
Weinachter is a genius at loopy humour...while Kendall's sincerity...really reaches out without an iota of phoniness ★★★★
Mary Brennan, The Herald
Plan B for Utopia is a beautifully constructed show: laugh out loud, serious, profoundly silly, and a joy from start to finish ★★★★
The Skinny
...this new work from Joan Clevillé is so incredibly exciting...he gets it all very very right. Every word, every wonderful facial expression, every bodily movement that performer Solène Weinachter makes is a gift to the audience ★★★★
Kelly Apter, The Scotsman
I was invested all the way through the journey, in the relationship of the characters but also in the bigger picture of the issues brought up, the perfect balance!
Audience Member
It is so hard to find a piece that is both genuinely funny and of such high quality dance work. Spot on!
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