Zoo Co’s award-winning Sirens, the creatively captioned and BSL inclusive show giving ancient Greek mythology a modern feminist twist, launches a UK tour this month including dates at London’s Greenwich Theatre from 20 to 23 June 2019. Time to get booking!
“And before you can say damaged male ego, we’re holed up on a four-foot square rock for the rest of eternity…”
When three Greek women defy the want of Zeus and are cursed with a deadly voice, the famous myth of the Sirens is born. But when they find out that the truth about them may have been a bit more than ‘tweaked’, they are catapulted to Hastings beach in 2019 with one mission: rewrite history.
Using breathtaking visual storytelling, stunning projections and a lot of feathers, Zoo Co’s award-winning show Sirens, written by Alex Howarth, sticks two fingers up at gender expectations and asks, when your voice is silenced, how do you stand up and shout out? Sirens is creatively captioned and BSL (British Sign Language) inclusive.
Multi-award winning Zoo Co present a powerful and visual story performed by a Deaf and hearing cast comprising Fleur Angevine Rooth, Kate Donnachie, Nick Gilbert, William Grint and Rosalind Hoy.
Sirens is directed by Florence O’Mahony, with projection design by Timothy Kelly, scenic design by Adam Bottomley and music by composer Nick Gilbert. The interpreter is Jenny Fernandez White and Rupal Chandi as BSL deaf consultant.
This month’s tour runs from 12 to 29 June 2019 and visits Didcot, Milton Keynes, Caterham, Birmingham, Canterbury, Banbury and Bedford in addition to four performances at Greenwich Theatre from 20 to 23 June. The production will also return for a date at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls on 20 October.
Sirens has youth engagement projects attached to the tour in Milton Keynes and Surrey as well with a large scale project happening in Croydon, the company’s hometown. Supported by Arts Council England, Tickets Ignite, Croydon Council, Surrey Community Foundation, and Milton Keynes Community Foundation.
Show trailer
About Zoo Co
Zoo Co was established in 2013 and has since created multiple, critically acclaimed indoor productions and site-specific shows, which have toured to over 40 venues across the UK and internationally.
Since winning the Les Enfants Terribles Award with their debut production The Hive, Zoo Co has developed a reputation for creating original and innovative theatre, bringing their ‘explosive visual imagination’ to all their work.
Sirens is Zoo Co’s sixth production and won the Three Weeks Editor’s Choice Award last year. Previous productions include Monotone Man commissioned by Lyric Hammersmith and The Girl Who Fell in Love with the Moon.
Why the name?
“Because we are drawn to the idea that we can study people in the same way that we study animals, and believe that each artist and participant and audience member brings with them something new and diverse. We’re fascinated by both the everyday and the enormous, and hope to bring an instinctive, playful energy to everything we do. Our aim is to ‘play lightly with things that matter deeply’.
“Our playfulness as a group of theatre-makers tells us to really mud-wrestle with ideas, to hibernate and nest, to work as a pack, to do what feels natural even if it seems silly, outrageous, vulnerable or brave. And when we invite our audiences to ‘visit the zoo’, we hope that they will see that instinctive, playful fascination that we have with people, including them, too.”
What the critics say
★★★★★ Three Weeks
★★★★ British Theatre Guide
★★★★ Deadline News
★★★★ LGBTQ Arts Review
★★★★ Arthur’s Seat
- ‘Fast-paced, imaginative and overflowing with relevant themes’ – British Theatre Guide
- ‘Original, funny and making theatre more casually inclusive’ – LGBTQ Arts Review
- ‘Sirens is a fist-pumping feel-good display of girl power’ – Deadline News
- ‘A wonderfully entertaining show addressing important themes’ – Fringe Review