New Perspectives gives Valentines a call

Published: 29 January 2021
Reporter: Steve Orme

Ringing in the new: Sophia Hatfield Credit: Michael Pollard

Nottinghamshire company New Perspectives is presenting a series of five-minute telephone dramas for Valentine’s weekend which will be performed to an audience of one person at a time.

In its latest work playing with form and experimenting how intimate theatre can exist in lockdown, New Perspectives is collaborating with rural theatre maker Sophia Hatfield who runs Stute Theatre on Love Down the Line.

Hatfield will perform Love Down the Line live and will alternate performances with Nottingham-based actor Ollie Smith.

Hatfield said, "I'm delighted to be able to work with New Perspectives on this exciting new idea. Telephone theatre is an innovative way of bringing an immersive live experience to audiences while allowing performers to work from home. I can't wait to spread some joy and share a bit of quality live theatre with our audiences this Valentine's."

New Perspectives’ artistic director Jack McNamara added, "in the digital swamp we find ourselves in, I feel a renewed love for older forms of communication in all their creaky beauty.

“Following on from touring theatre on postcards, we were soon drawn to the telephone medium as a way of creating a new intimacy with audiences across different generations. Sophia Hatfield has already broken ground with this old / new medium, telephoning audiences throughout 2020 and we’re thrilled to be bringing her discoveries into our mix to offer something truly different this Valentines."

There will be 56 performances on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 February. On the Saturday, they take place every quarter hour from 2 until 9:45PM and on the Sunday every quarter hour from 11AM until 8:45PM. Hatfield will perform on the hour and half hour while Smith takes over at a quarter past and a quarter to the hour.

Tickets cost £5 and can be booked at the New Perspectives web site.

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, The Ticket Factory, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

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