Physical theatre company Gecko marks its debut at the Barbican with The Wedding as part of the line-up for the London International Mime Festival 2019, the first time a UK theatre company has been programmed at the Barbican as part of the LIMF main theatre programme.
The company’s seventh creation, The Wedding, features an ensemble of nine international performers who guide audiences through a dystopian world in which we are all brides, wedded to society.
Now, in its 18th year, Gecko performs across the UK and internationally. Past shows include The Overcoat, Missing, Institute and The Time of Your Life, a live theatre broadcast aimed at new audiences not necessarily familiar with contemporary subsidised theatre commissioned by BBC Four, ACE and Battersea Arts Centre.
Artistic director Amit Lahav has also been working on movement for BBC 2’s documentary about Austrian painter Egon Schiele, Dangerous Desires: The Scandalous Life Of Egon Schiele, directed by Teresa Griffiths, which uses Lahav’s choreography to convey the expressiveness of his work.
He said, “I am immensely proud that Gecko has been invited to perform The Wedding at the Barbican Theatre as part of the London International Mime Festival, our biggest national platform to date, most pertinently for the message it sends to our young audiences: be courageous, daring and experimental.
"The shows we create are emotionally expressive, uncompromising and boldly inventive. I feel that these are important values to harvest in the next generation and I’m very happy that the Barbican and LIMF are encouraging that message.
"Having always worked with an international ensemble and toured extensively internationally, it also gives me great pleasure to know that Gecko will be the first British company to be seen in this prestigious international slot in the LIMF programme. These performances mark a turning point for Gecko as the ambition of the work continues to grow and I am excited to embark on the next phase of our journey.”