Acclaimed Gary Clarke Company returns to Nottingham Playhouse with latest dance production

Gary Clarke Company return to the city centre venue after the successful performances of Coal and Wasteland there.

They are a pioneering, award-winning dance theatre company based in Barnsley. Renowned for high impact, high quality and high legacy work, the company tours extensively across the UK.

In 1988 a piece of legislation from Thatcher’s Conservative Government devastated lives and it this that is the basis of Detention.

It explores Section 28, which ‘prohibited the promotion of homosexuality’, forcing the LGBT+ community into a place of secrecy, fear and shame, set to a backdrop of nationwide industrial turmoil and the onslaught of AIDS.

Gary Clarke uses powerful storytelling, drawing on verbatim testimonies with vivid choreography performed by a company of exceptional dancers, narrator, and local cast of LGBT+ people.

Featuring music tracks by the iconic Test Dept, Detention is a bold and moving portrayal of the remarkable resilience of individuals and organisations of the time.

Later in the year, Aakash Odedra Company, in association with Manchester Camerata, present Songs of The Bulbul. This is a new dance work by Aakash Odedra with choreography by Rani Khanam and music by Rushil Ranjan.

It is inspired by the ancient Sufi myth of a bulbul captured and held in captivity.

The bird was bound ever closer and slowly perished through despair, singing more sweetly as its end drew nearer, until it uttered one final, heartbreaking and piercingly beautiful song just before it departed the mortal world. Thus ended the journey of the mythical bird

A sensitive, beautiful dialogue between Sufi Kathak, music that seamlessly blends orchestral and Indian Classical tradition, and Islamic Poetry, Songs of the Bulbul invites audiences to witness a transformation transcending physical boundaries towards enlightenment. Through a journey from Persia to the subcontinent, from freedom to captivity, and the soul’s journey towards divine love and enlightenment, Odedra poses a universal question: Will we, like the caged bird, remain bound to the material world, or will we soar towards a higher existence of liberation, and the divine?

For more on tickets to see the productions go to www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk