451

by Periplum & Corn Exchange Newbury

Installation, Music/Sound, Theatre

A night time image of two performers climbing poles with a yellow glow in the background and an audience in the foreground.

Reading is forbidden, all literature is outlawed…

Inspired by Ray Bradbury’s visionary novel Fahrenheit 451, this incendiary outdoor performance explores the story of a society where books are banned and firemen employed to burn them.

451 is a 360-degree surround performance combining immersive sound installation with high-octane dramatic action and pyrotechnics to depict a dystopic society where people seek happiness in a world of technology and acts of violence are rewarded.

Bradbury’s classic text has proven prophetic – reflected in the rise of the iPad, surveillance, interactive media, the televised pursuit of fugitives, global consumerism and the continuing radical power of the written word. As we witness a rise in monitoring and censorship of the internet we might even believe that there could be a future where books may once again hold a secret knowledge..

About Periplum

Brighton-based visual theatre company Periplum, some of the country’s most exciting creators of large-scale outdoor performance team up with Corn Exchange Newbury and 101, its dedicated outdoor arts creation centre to create this dramatic new co-production.

Formed in 1999 by Artistic Directors Claire Raftery and Damian Wright, Periplum produces ground-breaking site-responsive & outdoor theatre performance, making work that is story-led and content-driven while bringing the intimacy of human drama into shows of a spectacular scale. In collaboration with composers, designers, engineers & pyrotechnicians, the company deliver highly visual, socially significant and emotionally explosive work for all the senses