Fuel is a production company which collaborates “with outstanding artists with fresh perspectives and approaches who seek to explore our place in the world, expose our fears, understand our hopes for the future, create experiences which change us and in turn empower us to make change in the world around us.”
From 17 to 20 April, it is bringing This Restless State, a one-man show which looks at European identity through three family storylines in three time periods—Berlin in 1989, London in 2017 and Rome in 2052—to Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre as the final stop on a national tour. The show was co-commissioned with London’s Ovalhouse.
Jesse Fox who created and performs the piece said, “I’d been really interested in making a show about European identity for a long time because I thought I defined myself more comfortably as European first and British second. I realized this wasn’t the experience of many other people living in this country and the last couple of years have obviously brought all these sorts of questions to the fore. I’ve started questioning how important my national identity and sense of home are to me. They are, in fact, more important to me than I initially expected.”
Fox collaborated on the show with Danielle Pearson, Playwright in Residence at the Watermill Theatre and the winner of the EU Collective Plays! Competition, and Jemima James, associate director on The Encounter by Simon McBurney and Complicité.
“I hope,” Fox added, “that audiences will go away with a sense that the feelings of uncertainty and frustration that many are currently experiencing, regardless of political leanings, have in some way been acknowledged by the show. We want to offer a space where feeling unsure and wanting to make sense of it all, is affirmed as a valid reaction to have at this political crossroads.”