Analogue’s new show Stowaway is a story about a man from India who finds himself far from home and adrift from everything he knows. He hides in the wheel arch of a commercial airliner bound for the UK, in a bid to change his life. His body is discovered, frozen, in the car park of a B&Q in a leafy suburb of outer London.
Inspired by a number of real-life stories of similar bodies found along the flight paths of the South East’s busy airports, Stowaway is the story of an extraordinary journey in search of an impossible future, developed by Analogue’s co-director Hannah Barker and long term Analogue co-writer Lewis Hetherington.
Barker and Hetherington undertook a trip to Chennai and Kolkata in 2012, where they took a similar story from a newspaper. Every meeting on the trip presented a new interpretation of the story, each a contradiction of the last. This trip and the subsequent development process have raised important questions about the sensitivities of telling someone’s story when they come from a world so different from our own – questions that have become central to this production.
With the skeleton of a plane cutting across the stage, Stowaway flies back and forth through time and place, to present a physical and compelling piece of theatre that looks at storytelling as a political act.
The show tours the North East in Spring 2016 as part of REACH, the Strategic Touring initiative run by Dep Arts and ARC Stockton Arts Centre.
Analogue’s award-winning work includes Mile End, Beachy Head, 2401 Objects, Lecture Notes on a Death Scene and Re-enactments. The company are associate artists of Farnham Maltings and Shoreditch Town Hall. Stowaway has been developed with the support of British Council, Arts Council England, Platform, National Theatre Studio, Traverse Theatre, Shoreditch Town Hall, PULSE Festival and Migrants Research Council.
analoguetheatre.co.uk | @analogue_ | #stowaway
Running Time 80 minutes | Suitable for ages 14+
Tour dates:
ARC Stockton Arts Centre
Wed 2 & Thur 3 March, 7pm
arconline.co.uk / 01642 525199
@arcstockton
Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre
Fri 4 March, 7.30pm
hartlepooltownhalltheatre.com / 01429 890000
@HpoolTownHall
Saltburn Community Theatre
Sat 5 March, 7.30pm
saltburnarts.co.uk / 01287 624997
@SaltburnTheatre
Alnwick Playhouse
Tue 8 March, 7.30pm
alnwickplayhouse.co.uk / 01665 510785
@AlnPlayhouse
Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham
Wed 9 March, 7.30pm
queenshall.co.uk / 01434 652477
@QueensHall
Arts Centre Washington
Thur 10 & Fri 11 March, 7.30pm
artscentrewashington.co.uk / 0191 219 3455
@ArtsCtrWton
Seaton Delaval Arts Centre
Sat 12 March, 7.30pm
seatondelavalartscentre.com / 0191 2375460
@sdartscentre