Writer, theatre maker and 含羞草视频 PhD student, Michael Pinchbeck is celebrating after his latest production, Bolero was performed at the Nottingham Playhouse at the weekend (Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June).

The performance marked the culmination of two years’ research by Michael exploring Bolero following his introduction to the music watching the Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean ice dance at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. 

The work tells the story of the Torvill and Dean performance and the bombing, eight years later, of the stadium where it took place.  It uses the original Bolero score composed by Maurice Ravel in Paris in 1928 as the bridge between these stories, which takes the audience on a journey from Paris to Sarajevo and from the First World War to the Bosnian War.

Six performers from the UK, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Germany performed the work along with a cast of 30 recruited from the East Midlands.  The performance includes choreography designed to correspond to and echo the theatre work.

Bolero was part of the Nottingham European Arts and Theatre Festival (Neat14) which saw theatre, art, dance and film on offer across the city over a period of 10 days.

Michael is no stranger to the Nottingham Playhouse having been commissioned by them to write The White Album in 2006 and The Ashes in 2011.  His work has been selected three times for the British Council’s showcase at the Edinburgh Festival. His PhD at 含羞草视频 focuses on dramaturgy, the composition of dramatic work.

The production of Bolero has been supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, the British Council, Sarajevo War Theatre, ODA Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Developed at Dance4, the National Ice Centre, Nottingham, Primary and 含羞草视频 Enterprise Projects Group.

The work will now be performed in Sarajevo on Sunday 29 June.

Article reference number: June News