WHAT DO YOU DO, DAN?
I create new work for theatre about the world we find ourselves in. The stories I tell interrogate our choices about how we live together in this world. With jokes.
You are my guests. I take my responsibilities as a host seriously, so we'll break the ice, get a bit drunk, swap anecdotes, run out of snacks and end up discussing philosophy at 5am. You'll leave the party as the sun comes up newly optimistic about what's possible in the world. As you walk home afterwards through the city, you'll see a fox, and you'll reflect on how different its life is from yours, and on how much your perspective on the world has shifted since yesterday. Or maybe it hasn't, but hell, what a good night.
The scripts for my shows have spaces that can only be filled by the audience. Creating those spaces is fundamental to writing the script. The structure is crafted with care, but there's always space for the present moment to break into it. Don't be alarmed. You don't have to do anything you don't want to.
I don’t know whether theatre can change the world, but if I act as if it can’t, it definitely won’t. We're all part of history, which means all of us can change it.
THAT SOUNDS GREAT. BUT WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY *DO*?
Mostly I write and perform. This work exists in three main strands.
If you've seen me before, the chances are you've seen one of the touring theatre pieces, like The Price of Everything, How to Occupy an Oil Rig, Going Viral, or Instructions for Border Crossing.
Or you might have seen one of my shows for young audiences, like Error 404 or Full of Noises.
It's less likely that you'll have seen one of my shows for community audiences, like Story Hunt or Tiny Heroes. These shows are made for and with communities in specific places, usually places that don't get much by way of theatre and performance. They tend to be performed in non-theatre spaces, be that in village halls and community centres, or in the streets of the place itself. So they tend to fly under the radar a bit more, not touring widely, not attracting the attention of the national press, and generally being ignored as is the case with many of the most important things.
YOU SAID "MOSTLY" YOU WRITE AND PERFORM...?
But not only. Thanks for asking.
I often write for others to perform. This is most often to commission. I am available. Reasonable rates. Apply within. I'm not short of ideas.
Sometimes I perform in work led by others, most recently in We're Stuck by One Tenth Human and China Plate.
And I do a lot of directing: until 2012 this was the main element of my practice. Between 2003-12 I directed for companies including Red Ladder, Silver Tongue Theatre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. After a few years off to focus on my own practice, I'm now directing again, projects such as 666 Comments by Aliki Chapple and Thinner Blood by Dick Bonham.
Outside of my work as writer-performer, my main collaboration is with the composer Boff Whalley. We work with communities to write choral music about their place, then we create large-scale choral performance installations with singers from those communities. Our larger projects have included Wonderstruck and We're Here.
YEAH, BUT IS IT ANY GOOD?
My shows have won multiple awards and have toured internationally.
And don't just take my word for it:
"One of the most astute and stylish contemporary theatremakers around" - The Stage
"I think Dan may have invented a whole new form of theatre" - Erica Whyman, Deputy Artistic Director, RSC
"The future of British theatre - The Times
"Extraordinarily complex within a deceptively simple format. [...] A genuine exchange between performer and audience" - The Guardian
"Almost no limit to the political resonances of this apparently light-touch show." - Scotsman
"Captivating and illuminating." - The Independent
"Smartly and subtly plays with our ideas." - Financial Times
"Bye engages and implicates us with unaffected, infectious directness." - The Guardian
I create new work for theatre about the world we find ourselves in. The stories I tell interrogate our choices about how we live together in this world. With jokes.
You are my guests. I take my responsibilities as a host seriously, so we'll break the ice, get a bit drunk, swap anecdotes, run out of snacks and end up discussing philosophy at 5am. You'll leave the party as the sun comes up newly optimistic about what's possible in the world. As you walk home afterwards through the city, you'll see a fox, and you'll reflect on how different its life is from yours, and on how much your perspective on the world has shifted since yesterday. Or maybe it hasn't, but hell, what a good night.
The scripts for my shows have spaces that can only be filled by the audience. Creating those spaces is fundamental to writing the script. The structure is crafted with care, but there's always space for the present moment to break into it. Don't be alarmed. You don't have to do anything you don't want to.
I don’t know whether theatre can change the world, but if I act as if it can’t, it definitely won’t. We're all part of history, which means all of us can change it.
THAT SOUNDS GREAT. BUT WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY *DO*?
Mostly I write and perform. This work exists in three main strands.
If you've seen me before, the chances are you've seen one of the touring theatre pieces, like The Price of Everything, How to Occupy an Oil Rig, Going Viral, or Instructions for Border Crossing.
Or you might have seen one of my shows for young audiences, like Error 404 or Full of Noises.
It's less likely that you'll have seen one of my shows for community audiences, like Story Hunt or Tiny Heroes. These shows are made for and with communities in specific places, usually places that don't get much by way of theatre and performance. They tend to be performed in non-theatre spaces, be that in village halls and community centres, or in the streets of the place itself. So they tend to fly under the radar a bit more, not touring widely, not attracting the attention of the national press, and generally being ignored as is the case with many of the most important things.
YOU SAID "MOSTLY" YOU WRITE AND PERFORM...?
But not only. Thanks for asking.
I often write for others to perform. This is most often to commission. I am available. Reasonable rates. Apply within. I'm not short of ideas.
Sometimes I perform in work led by others, most recently in We're Stuck by One Tenth Human and China Plate.
And I do a lot of directing: until 2012 this was the main element of my practice. Between 2003-12 I directed for companies including Red Ladder, Silver Tongue Theatre and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. After a few years off to focus on my own practice, I'm now directing again, projects such as 666 Comments by Aliki Chapple and Thinner Blood by Dick Bonham.
Outside of my work as writer-performer, my main collaboration is with the composer Boff Whalley. We work with communities to write choral music about their place, then we create large-scale choral performance installations with singers from those communities. Our larger projects have included Wonderstruck and We're Here.
YEAH, BUT IS IT ANY GOOD?
My shows have won multiple awards and have toured internationally.
And don't just take my word for it:
"One of the most astute and stylish contemporary theatremakers around" - The Stage
"I think Dan may have invented a whole new form of theatre" - Erica Whyman, Deputy Artistic Director, RSC
"The future of British theatre - The Times
"Extraordinarily complex within a deceptively simple format. [...] A genuine exchange between performer and audience" - The Guardian
"Almost no limit to the political resonances of this apparently light-touch show." - Scotsman
"Captivating and illuminating." - The Independent
"Smartly and subtly plays with our ideas." - Financial Times
"Bye engages and implicates us with unaffected, infectious directness." - The Guardian
