imitating the dog premières Joseph Conrad work

Published: 1 September 2018
Reporter: Steve Orme

“Political minefield”: Heart of Darkness Credit: Ed Waring

Performance theatre company imitating the dog is to première Joseph Conrad’s influential novel Heart of Darkness in Italy before taking it to Aberystwyth and Birmingham.

The company’s co-artistic director Pete Brooks said, “as a result of recent political events we felt that the UK had become gripped with a nostalgia for our colonial past without really acknowledging what that past was.

"It felt like most people believe the British Empire was a reciprocal arrangement: we got rich but they got to speak the best language in the world and have a functioning civil service.

“Conrad in his novel anticipated the horrors of 20th century genocide and the problem of globalised capitalism. He also understood that their roots were in European colonialism. This was our starting point.

“The novel deserves to be treated seriously and Conrad’s unconscious racism doesn’t invalidate his work although some people might say it diminishes it.

“For imitating the dog, it was important that we retold Conrad’s story for audiences today, and from a new perspective. Our production is now the story of the journey of a black woman into the darkness of a war-torn Europe.

Heart of Darkness is simply too important a work to be avoided because it’s a political minefield and when you take on a text as tricky as Conrad’s novel you have to tread carefully.”

Heart of Darkness will be retold and directed by imitating the dog founder members Pete Brooks and Andrew Quick who were responsible for the company’s presentation of Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms at The Dukes, Lancaster in 2014. Projection and video for Heart of Darkness will be designed by fellow original founder member Simon Wainwright.

The creative team will include regular imitating the dog collaborators designer Laura Hopkins, lighting designer Andrew Crofts and composer Jeremy Peyton-Jones.

Heart of Darkness will premieère at Marche Teatro’s Teatro Sperimentale in Ancona, Italy and then visit Aberystwyth Arts Centre on 16 and 17 November and Birmingham REP from 20 until 24 November. The UK tour will continue in 2019 to Doncaster, Glasgow, Lancaster, Keswick, Newcastle, York, Ipswich, Salford, Liverpool and Coventry from 5 March until 11 May.

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