Forced Entertainment

Two performers engage in an absurd test that seems to shift and change as they work their way through it. Fragments of a language lesson. Questions from a personality quiz. Slogans from some future society. The performers laugh, hesitate, ask for more time. The test continues. As the clock ticks it’s not even certain if the subjects of the test are the audience or the performers.

Comical and tangled, If All Else Fails is a new collaboration between Sheffield’s Forced Entertainment and dancer/maker/choreographer Seke Chimutengwende.

Performed by Chimutengwende and Cathy Naden, one of the founder members of the group, the piece is a dialogue of speech and movement, questions and answers.

Drawing on the artists’ mutual interest in improvisation, and in setting up complex, comical and unstable performance situations, the piece brings together two powerful forces in the contemporary theatre scene to create a perplexing and original exploration of new territory.

If All Else Fails is a Forced Entertainment production. Co-produced by Cambridge Junction & Sheffield Theatres.

Forced Entertainment is a longstanding, multi-award-winning, globally renowned, Sheffield-based ensemble which grows in creative collaboration with other artists, influencing the ecology and experience of theatre in England and beyond.  At the heart of Forced Entertainment is a group of six artists; Tim Etchells (Artistic Director), Robin Arthur, Richard Lowdon (Designer), Claire Marshall, Cathy Naden, Terry O’Connor collaborating to make original theatre and performances together since 1984.

“Our vision is that our work creates a space which allows people of all backgrounds to rethink the world, their place and potential in it. Our mission is to explore the possibilities of playful, complex and provocative art, its power to ask questions, and to connect people”

‘…Near legendary…at the forefront of performance and innovation.’ – The Stage 

‘…Theatre pioneers’ – BBC Art News

‘Shockingly Brilliant.’ – The Guardian

‘The best group of stage actors in Britain.’ – The Times

Information:

Because the company’s work is known not only for its comical and playful side, but also for the ways it challenges audiences, we suggest a lower age limit of 14.

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*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. We don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>