The Noise is a brand new show from Unlimited Theatre that follows a strand of our work that’s interested in leading developments in science, including our previous shows Tangle, The Ethics of Progress and Mission To Mars:
"Working with scientists has played a big part in making the stories we tell for a few years now. We've worked with quantum physicists, astronauts and neuroscientists to make shows based on their research across the world and, in honesty, we've been surprised at how hungry audiences are for those types of stories. With The Noise, we've combined our love of science and edge-of-the-seat storytelling to make a ‘sci-conspiracy thriller’ about memory, secrets and the effects of sound on human beings.” Jon Spooner, Creative Director, Unlimited Theatre
The show’s also inspired by Unlimited wanting to make a show that places sound and music right at the heart of the show:
"Sound and music has always been a massively important part of how we tell our stories. The Noise was inspired by our research into the effects of sound on human beings - physically, emotionally, and psychologically. We've worked closely in collaboration with the brilliant electronic musician Minotaur Shock and one of the UK's most brilliant sound designers Gareth Fry to create (what we hope will be!) a pretty intense aural experience.” Jon Spooner, Creative Director, Unlimited Theatre
The Noise tours the following venues this Autumn:
View or download the script as a PDF, styled in a traditional layout: The Noise [PDF]
A huge amount of people have helped to make this show happen, but we’d like to say a special thank you to the entire team at Northern Stage who have helped make this show happen; those involved in the original development – Abbi Greenland, Helen Goalen, Alim Jayda, Caroline Parker and Sula Gleeson; Professor Tim Griffiths and Dr Denis McKeown for their invaluable input; Erica Whyman; Matthew Gurney; Alex Taylor at Battersea Arts Centre; Alex Markham; The Charles Dickens Pub, Union St Southwark; Emma Forster and Ralph Dartford at Arts Council England; Jenny Paton and the team at Wellcome Trust; Richard Davenport for rehearsal and production photography; Matt Locke, Silvia Novak, Jon Rogers, Joanne Wain, Dean Vipond and all involved in ‘Make Some More Noise’, especially our Community Lab; Unlimited’s brilliant Board of Directors – Alison Andrews, David Nicholson, Louisa Riches, Tony Singh and Martin Sutherland; and friends, families & loved ones.
A co-production between Unlimited Theatre and Northern Stage with Warwick Arts Centre. Supported by Arts Council England, The Wellcome Trust and Jerwood Space.
Based in Leeds UK, Unlimited is what happens when the artists Clare Duffy, Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe make new work together. This work is always co- created with equal partnership in the creative process and in collaboration with an expanding pool of associate artists, scientists, technologists and educators. At its heart is a sincere engagement with its audience both in the process and moment of (co)creation.
Our work is always for live performance, most often happening in theatres. Increasingly however, our work is being made with a ‘cross-platform curiosity’ – that is, with a desire to make and distribute the work in other places (e.g. for broadcast and on the internet) but still and always with an emphasis on the ‘liveness’ of that experience for our audiences.
The company formed in 1997 and has earned a reputation for making consistently brilliant new work. Notable productions during the last 15 years include: Static, Neutrino (both Fringe First winners), Could It Be Magic?, The Swing Left, Tangle, The Ethics of Progress, Zero Degrees and Drifting, The Moon The Moon, Mission To Mars, The Giant & The Bear and MONEY the game show.
In recent years, Unlimited has developed a dedicated strand of work focussed on communicating and interrogating development in science, particularly in quantum physics, astronomy and space travel. Unlimited has toured extensively in the UK and overseas at international festivals and venues in the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Zimbabwe, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Ukraine, Singapore and the USA. Recent awards for the company include: Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Achievement in Space Education and Outreach 2011; National Charity Awards 2011 (Arts, Culture and Heritage); and WISE Champion Award 2011. Unlimited Theatre is resident at West Yorkshire Playhouse, and is part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio of Organisations.
"The excellent Unlimited Theatre... a company that has always combined infinite thoughtfulness with theatrical flair." The Guardian
www.unlimited.org.uk | @untheatre
Clare is a co-director of Unlimited Theatre, resident company at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has co-written most of Unlimited’s touring work including The Noise, The Giant and The Bear, Mission to Mars, The Moon The Moon, Tangle, Ethics Of Progress and Zero Degrees and Drifting. She teaches Writing For Performance at Glasgow University. She is currently Artist In Residence at Summerhall Arts Centre in Edinburgh and an associate playwright at Playwrights Studio Scotland. This year Clare wrote and directed Money: The Game Show, which was a co-production between Unlimited Theatre and The Bush. 'This playful, thoughtful and riotously entertaining piece is right on the money'. ****The Guardian ‘clever and remarkably understandable’ ‘ingenious’. New York Times. ****Financial Times/Scotsman. Money The Game Show is published by Oberon Books and is scheduled to open in Seoul, Korea Autumn 2013. Clare won a Pearson Award for her first full-length play, Crossings in 2003, which was published and toured in 2005. (**** The Scotsman) This led to her being Writer In Residence at the West Yorkshire Playhouse 2004. Clare has also written drama for Radio 4 and co-wrote ANA, a bi-lingual play for Stella Quines and Imago Theatre, with Pierre-Yves Lemieux, which opened in Montreal in November 2011 and toured Scotland in Spring 2012 (**** Scotsman & Herald). She is currently writing The Cbeebies Christmas Carol and How Do You Sleep At Night? A black comedy about how to leave a ex-CEO billionaire who thinks he is a psychopath. She is also writing her first novel: a story for young adults about what money is.
Gareth trained at the Central School of Speech & Drama. Recent work includes: Secret Agent (Theatre O, Traverse & Young Vic), David Bowie Is (V&A), Shun-kin (Complicite), Let The Right One In, Black Watch (NT Scotland), Othello (NT), Hamlet (RSC), Reise Durch die Nacht (Schauspiel, Cologne, Avignon Festival and Theatre Treffern, Berlin), Trojan Women (Gate Theatre), Longing (Hampstead Theatre), Fraulein Julie (Schabühne, Berlin & Barbican, London), Soundscape Design for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. Other work includes: Tangle, Zero Degrees and Drifting (Unlimited), The Master & Margarita, Endgame, Noise of Time (Complicité), Living Costs (DV8), No Idea (Improbable), Wild Swans, Hamlet, Joe Turners Come and Gone, Sweet Nothings (Young Vic), Othello (Frantic Assembly), The Fahrenheit Twins (Told By An Idiot), Hansel & Gretel, The Cat in the Hat, Pains of Youth, Kneehigh's A Matter Of Life and Death, Attempts on Her Life, Waves, The Overwhelming, Improbable's Theatre of Blood (National Theatre, England), Truth and Reconcilliation, Wastwater, Chicken Soup with Barley, The City, Harvest, Under the Whaleback, Mountain Language (Royal Court). Awards include: Laurence Olivier Award 2007 for Waves; Helpmann Award 2008 and Olivier Award 2009 for Black Watch; IRNE Award 2012 for Wild Swans in Boston.
Is there any sound greater than our own. If we had real earlids, like eyelids, for choosing what to hear, then would we listen better. Maybe we'd start to see and perceive so many of the vibrations that pass us by and there'd be no such thing as noise. Perhaps then, I could believe there's no such thing as silence.
Rhys was one of the winners of the 2007 Linbury Biennial Prize, for his designs of Varjak Paw for the Opera Group. New work includes, The Nutcracker with The Nuffield Theatre directed by Blanche McIntyre and Institute for Gecko. Recent outdoor work includes One Million for TangledFeet and The Greenwich and Docklands International Festival and Cycle Song, an opera for the 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Recent work includes Holes written by Tom Basden and Threeway written by DC Jackson both directed by Philip Breen. Recent work for opera includes , Hot House (Royal Opera House Education, main stage), The Barber of Seville (ETO), Ludd and Isis (Royal Opera House Education), The Sleeper (WNO MAX) and The Bear (with the Jeanette Parker Young Artists Programme in the Linbury Studio Theatre). Theatre projects include Missing and Number 5 (Gecko Theatre), Diary of a Nobody (Royal and Derngate Theatre), Money The Game Show, Mission to Mars and The Moon, the Moon(Unlimited Theatre), Romeo and Juliet (Night Light Theatre), Time for the Good-looking Boy with Iqbal Khan and The Country with Simon Godwin. Designs for television include set designs for A Christmas Carol for CBeebies, series 5 of Dr Who and Young, Autistic and Stagestruck, for Channel 4.
Viktoria trained at East 15 Acting School and was a member of the National Youth Theatre. Theatre credits include: Gemma/ Alfred/ Athelstan/ Eadfrith/ Various in A Funny thing happened on the way to Durham on Tour (Gala Theatre), Adele/ Mrs Fairfax/ Blanche/ Bertha/ Various in Jane Eyre on Tour (Hull Truck), Jill in Lee Hall’s Cooking with Elvis (Bolton Octagon - for which she won Most Promising Newcomer at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards), Abigail in Chalet Lines (Live/ Bush Theatre), Susan in The Pitmen Painters, National Tour and West End, (Kenwright/ Live/ National Theatre), Annie/Various in Man and the Donkey (Customs House), Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (Customs House), Velvet in Popcorn (Bolton Octagon), Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty (KG Productions), Cinderella in Cinderella (KG Productions), Lucy in Oldham Trilogy (OldhamColiseum), Raven in Waiting for Gateaux (Customs House), Roberta in The Roker Roar (National Theatre), Seer in The Children of Bizu (Battersea Arts Centre), Anybody’s in West Side Story (Royal Albert Hall). Television credits include: Bonnie Meredith in Emmerdale(ITV).
Lauren trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre credits include: Never Rains But It Pours (Theatre 503), Quills (Second Skin Theatre), You Always Forget Something (Arcola Theatre), Hamlet (playing the title role under the direction of John Wright & Toria Banks at CSSD), A Mad World; The Thomas Middleton Project (Directed by the Tony award nominee Wilson Milam at CSSD). Film credits include: Island, Radio London & Love Tomorrow. Radio credits include: Vince Cosmos; Glam Rock Detective (Lead opp. Julian Rhind-Tutt), The Fixation (opp. Miles Jupp) The Devil In Darkness (lead in one of six 'Hammer Chillers,' recorded with Hammer Films and Bafflegab Productions. TV credits include: Lee Nelson's Well Good Show (BBC3). Whilst training Lauren thoroughly enjoyed working with Simon McBurney, Catherine Tate, Mel Churcher, Ned Chaillet and the brilliant John Wright. You can find out more at www.laurenkellegher.com.
Tim works internationally as a fight director. He creates fights for theatre, ballet, opera, film, video games and television. His approach is unique, and is best known for his cutting edge approach to acting a fight scene. Credits include Shakespeare’s Globe, Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Festival Hall, Haymraket Theatre Basingstoke, Nashville Ballet, Comedy Theatre London, and The Tobacco Factory Bristol, BBC, Channel 4. Born in New York, Tim studied method acting in the US and went on to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, where he also apprenticed as a stage combat teacher. Tim is resident fight director at The Drama Centre; London’s leading Drama School for the methodical approach to acting. More recently he has studied Sanford Meisner’s approach to acting with Tom Radcliffe. As an educator, Tim staffs and creates workshops and events in the UK, US, Canada, Italy, South Africa, Ireland, and the Netherlands. His classes are challenging and dynamic, focusing as much on acting as combat. Drama Schools include Drama Centre London, Oxford School of Drama, and Movement classes at Actors Temple London. From time to time Tim has provided casting assistance for productions seeking action actors and motion capture performers, including Kingdom of Heaven and Alexander. Work in motion capture for video games includes Medieval Total War II, Spartan Total Warrior, Killzone 2, and Shellshock 2. Certified Instructor - BADC Fight Director - Fight Directors Canada Member - Independent Fight Directors Guild.
Jeremy works regularly with the Flemish choreographer Wim Vandekeybus devising and performing in films and stage pieces. He played the lead in Vandekeybus’s 2010 feature film Monkey Sandwich, which was selected for the Venice Film Festival and the 2012 stage piece Booty Looting, which is still playing across Europe. Before meeting Wim he worked regularly with the UK group Forced Entertainment, devising and performing in most of their pieces made between 2000 and 2010. He’s also made films and theatre pieces with Third Angel, including Parts for Machines that Do Things, written by Chris Thorpe, at the Crucible theatre, Sheffield. This is the first time he’s worked with Unlimited and the first time he’s been in a scripted play since he was in Monsters, directed by Chris Haydon, at the Arcola Theatre, London in 2008.
Pete is a London based Sound Designer for Theatre and is a graduate of the Central School of Speech and Drama. He is passionate about bringing the highest quality of work to all his designs. Working collaboratively within creative teams and closely with Directors during rehearsals to build designs that integrate with the story being produced. Recent work includes: Farragut North (Sound Design, Southwark Playhouse) Space Junk (Sound Design, Lyric/Gameshow), Lionboy (Associate Sound Design, Complicité), Hamlet (Associate Sound Design, RSC), Rock Pool (Associate Sound Design, Inspector Sands), Die Zauberflöte (Associate sound Design DNO/Complicité), Marguerite (Sound Design, Tabard Theatre), Night Train (Sound Engineer, 59 Productions), London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony (Assistant Soundscape Design), The Master and Margarita (Additional Sound Design, Complicité)
Heather read Technical Theatre BA (Hons) at the University of Huddersfield where she gained a First Class degree as well as being awarded the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ for stage management. During this she worked as Stage Manager on The Wonderful World of Dissocia, God of Carnage and The Last Laugh. She has worked with Unlimited Theatre previously on the fantastic show The Giant and the Bear, as well as working with Northern Ballet (I Got Rhythm), Opera North (Winter Season 2012). Heather currently also works as a lighting technician with AV Matrix.
Simon read Drama at The University of Hull. He was the Company Stage Manager on Unlimited’s Money the Game Show (Bush Theatre / National Tour). He regularly collaborates with RashDash as Lighting Designer and Production Manager: The Honeymoon, Another Someone (Fringe First / National Tour), Scary Gorgeous (Fringe First, two MTM Awards / National Tour), Ugly Sisters (nominated three MTM Awards / shortlisted Total Theatre Award). Simon’s credits include: Technical Stage Manager for Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches (Edinburgh Fosters Comedy Award 2011, North American Tour / Soho Theatre); Technical Stage Manager on Radar Festival 2012 (Bush Theatre); Production Manager / Lighting Designer on NiE’s Hansel & Gretel (The Junction, Cambridge); Production Manager on Gonzo Moose’s I’m An Aristocrat Get Me Out of Here! (National Tour), What the Dickens? (Pegasus Theatre / National Tour); Deafinitely Theatre Company’s Tanika’s Journey (Southwark Playhouse / nominated Off West End Award Best Set); Lighting Designer / Technical Stage Manager on Deafinitely’s Beauty Manifesto (NT Connections / Soho Theatre), Boy and the Statue (Tricycle Theatre / Tour), Gold Dust (National Tour / Soho Theatre), The Ritual (National Tour), Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Globe Theatre / National Tour); he most recently worked on Chimerica (Almeida Theatre / West End transfer).
Jon is a director, writer, performer, founder member and artistic director of Unlimited, collaborating or leading on every project the company has produced since 1997. His work has been produced extensively in the UK and toured across the world in Europe, Asia, Africa and the USA. Alongside directing The Noise, Jon is also currently leading a major research project funded by NESTA to develop a new digital platform for publishing plays and in November he is directing the CBeebies Christmas show which will be broadcast on BBC1 on Christmas Eve. Accompanying his theatre work, Jon is also the Director of Human Space Flight Operations for the Unlimited Space Agency whose mission is "to inspire the next generation of scientists and space explorers". The Agency has won a series of prestigious awards including a National Charity Award and the Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Achievement in Space Education. He is an associate of the Quantum Information Group at the University of Leeds, on the advisory committee of the Children's Media Conference and the father of two small boys.
William Simpson is a filmmaker whose filmic abstractions and stories appear on the stage, screen and in exhibition. Founder of Omni Pictures and more recently internet TV studio MITSU.TV he can be found in the Omni studios producing and cutting shorts, documentaries, music promos and advertising. He has produced films for clients such as BBC, World Wildlife Foundation and Arts Council England. William brings creative flare, humour and strong technical knowledge to all projects at Omni but above all is driven by his passion to communicate engaging and cinematic stories. Projection credits include the European premiere of The Kite Runner (Nottingham Playhouse); the award winning adaptation of Of Mice and Men by Mike Kenny (Mind the Gap); Diary of a Football Nobody (Nottingham Playhouse); Clockwork(National Theatre); Ragtime (LAOS); Mapping the City(Slunglow): The Mamba (West Yorkshire Playhouse) and Piano Circus – Trilogies (Kings Place). Film, TV and video credits include Anish Kapoor Flashback (Arts Council Collection); Born Survivor (BBC3); Its Not Over Yet – Middleman (Universal Records): Talking Transformations; (World Wildlife Foundation); Instructions for Films (Zoo Art Fair) and Lear Settings (Hull Sinfonietta).
Chris is a writer and performer from Manchester. He is a core member of Unlimited Theatre, and was a founder member, collaborating on all but two productions. He's also an artistic associate of Third Angel. As a solo performer, he is making a cycle of pieces for publication and performance which he performs at festivals in the UK and abroad. He is currently writing two new adaptations for younger audiences for the Unicorn THeatre in London, and working on Dark Woods, Deep Snow, which will open at Northern Stage this Christmas. He collaborates with companies like Slung Low, Forest Fringe, RashDash, and Soup Collective, as well as translating work, most often with Belarus Free Theatre and Serbian playwright Ugljesa Sajtinac. He also makes and tours work nationally and internationally with poet Hannah Jane Walker, most recently The Oh Fuck Moment and I Wish I Was Lonely, and as a writer with Portuguese experimental company mala voadora. Chris's most recent play, There Has Possibly Been An Incident, written for the Royal Exchange in Manchester, opened at Northern Stage's venue St Stephens during the Edinburgh Festival this year before transferring to Manchester and London. There Has Possibly... and Chris's work with Hannah Walker are published by Oberon Books.
Theatre credits include: Theatre Brothel (Greyscale), The Machine Gunners (Polka Theatre), Apples (Northern Stage), The Tempest (KG Productions), Book of Beasts (Catherine Wheels), Hansel and Gretel (Northern Stage), Heartbreak Soup (Empty Space Productions), A Christmas Carol (Northern Stage), How Many Miles to Basra? (West Yorkshire Playhouse). Television credits include: Little Bastard (Baby Cow Productions), The Royal Today (ITV Yorkshire), The Bill (Talkback Thames) and regular character ‘Jason’ in Byker Grove (Zenith Productions). Scott was picked out by the Independent as 'one to watch in 2012' and recently won the 'Journals' North East actor of the year award. He will be performing in ‘All God’s Have Fallen’ at the Almeida Festival in July.
Katharine Williams is a lighting designer working in drama, dance and physical theatre, with some opera, musical and circus projects. She works in the UK and internationally. Her designs have been seen in China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, Mexico, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Armenia, Romania, Russia and the Czech Republic. Credits include: THE NOISE (Unlimited Theatre); THE RULING CLASS (English Theatre Frankfurt); A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, CYRANO DE BERGERAC and OTHELLO (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre); ADDRESS UNKNOWN (Soho Theatre); NOT I (Royal Court); SAY IT WITH FLOWERS (Sherman Cymru); RESONANCE AT THE STILL POINT OF CHANGE (Southbank Centre); HEIDI - A GOAT'S TAIL (Theatre Royal Bath); BALLROOM OF JOY AND SORROWS (Watford Palace Theatre); KRAPP'S LAST TAPE / SPOONFACE STEINBERG (Hull Truck); ANNE AND ZEF (Company of Angels); GOD/HEAD (Chris Goode & Company); THE FRENCH DETECTIVE AND THE BLUE DOG (Bath Theatre Royal); THE WESTBRIDGE (Royal Court); INVISIBLE (Transport Theatre); THE PAJAMA MEN (Assembly Theatre); CLOSER (Théâtre des Capucins); FAERIES (Royal Opera House); LANDSCAPE & MONOLOGUE (Theatre Royal Bath); IVAN AND THE DOGS (ATC/Soho Theatre); THE GOAT, OR WHO IS SYLVIA? (Traverse Theatre), REYKJAVIC (Shams); NOCTURNAL (The Gate); AMGEN:BROKEN (Sherman Cymru/Theatr Clywd); DOLLS (National Theatre of Scotland); I AM FALLING (Gate Theatre/Sadler's Wells); TOUCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME (Trafalgar Studios). Katharine is currently working on MEDEA for Actors of Dionysus, BILLY THE GIRL for Clean Break Theatre and MOOMINLAND WINTER for Theatre Royal Bath.