SIZE OF COMPANY
Usually 1 on the road.

SCALE OF VENUE
Small-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Adrian Howells

ARTISTIC POLICY
To create work that promotes intimacy and genuine exchange with an audience, often in a one-to-one, autobiographical or confessional context, in a range of non-traditional performance spaces.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘An exceptionally enriching piece of theatre.’ The Scotsman (The 14 Stations of The Life and History of Adrian Howells)

‘An act of extraordinary generosity.’ The Guardian (An Audience with Adrienne)

‘A perfect antidote to all life’s ugliness and grime.’ The Scotsman (Adrienne’s Dirty Laundry Experience)

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
The 14 Stations of The Life and History of Adrian Howells Drawing on the 14 stations of the cross, this is a promenade piece for one audience member led on a journey through 14 created sites in which Howells “confesses”’ both the suffering he has endured as a gay man and also the pain he has inflicted on others. (60 mins, 2 on the road, contains nudity and some strong language.)

An Audience with Adrienne An intimate studio theatre piece, which is transformed into Adrienne’s living room, for 25 people. During the course of the evening the audience have tea and biscuits, play parlour games and select autobiographical stories from a menu that Adrienne either tells or shows as home movies. (90 mins, no interval, 3 on the road, some sexual content and strong language.)

Held In a residential house or flat, Howells takes one audience member through a series of physical “holdings”, each one becoming more intimate, as a correlative progression is made from kitchen and living room to bedroom. (90 mins, 1 on the road.)

Salon Adrienne Taking place in a working hairdressing salon, Adrienne washes the participant’s hair, gets them to take a metaphorical, long hard look at themselves in the mirror whilst ”teasing” their hair, and finally gives them an Indian head massage. (90 mins, 1 performer.)

Adrienne: The Great Depression In a hotel bedroom, reflecting Adrienne’s totally depressive state, Adrienne openly and honestly confides in the audience about her times of suffering severe depression and invites them to share similar experiences. (75 mins, 1 performer.)

Adrienne’s Dirty Laundry Experience In a working laundrette, as the washing machine washes the audience’s real dirty laundry, Adrienne gets them to share their metaphorical dirty laundry. (90 mins, 1 performer.)

WRAP-AROUND
For both Held and 14 Stations there is an illustrated talk: Close Encounters of the Adrian Howells Kind. This is aimed at university students, academics, researchers, and performance practitioners. For Salon Adrienne, Adrienne: the Great Depression and Adrienne’s Dirty Laundry Experience there is an illustrated talk: The Art of Being Adrienne. For all pieces, a workshop on creating confessional/autobiographical performance can be provided. This can be adapted for most age and ability groups, but not younger than 18. The workshop will be of particular interest to drama/theatre studies students and acting students, but also amateur theatre groups.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2007 Ireland (Held)
2006 Ireland (Salon Adrienne)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Details on request