BLAME is a new theatre piece exploring how recent discoveries in neuroscience impact upon our understanding of culpability and the justice system. PIGDOG created a development production with neuroscientists, psychologists and Bath Spa students in Feb-March 2016, and in December ran a second development process to improve the script and to share the work with interested producers, venues, funding bodies, and members of the science community.

Much of BLAME takes place in an unconventional courtroom, in which evidence is presented in the form of verbatim reenactments of interactions between key characters (so that the jury may "witness the case in greater detail"). Actor-characters wear headphones through which they hear the recorded voice of the real characters they are "playing"; they must repeat exactly what they hear, as they hear it. In cases where there are no recordings of the original interactions, the characters must speak their parts from memory into microphones that are connected to the actors' headphones. Through a series of increasingly complex scenes incorporating crossed conversations, arguments between characters and their actors, multi-rolling and "misheard" lines, PIGDOG uses these techniques to explore the nature of memory, responsibility, control and automated responses.

BLAME is generously supported by Bath Spa Live, OnSet and Theatre Lab; with initial support from the University of the Arts London SEED Fund.

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Writer / Director: Max Barton
Sound & System Design / Composition: Jethro Cooke
Designer: Shawn Soh
Producer: PIGDOG with DEM Productions

21 & 22 December – Central Saint Martins Theatre

BLAME

Audiovisual performance piece for stereo sound and projection. A pair of white pixels dance, draw pretty patterns and freak out to fun sounds in a carefully choreographed conversation between electronic music and image.

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9 April 2016 – Seeing Sound, Bath Spa University
18 January 2016 – Apiary Studios, London
21 August 2015 – GÆZ, Rye Wax, London
4 July 2015 – Barbican Open LAB showcase, Rich Mix, London



Asterism

"Process was borne out of a frustration with the often abstract nature of contemporary electronic musical performance, and its failure to connect with an audience in a manner comparable to its acoustic counterpart. It seems increasingly shrouded in mystery; performers hunch over laptops, turntables, and glowing machines, whilst the audience are tasked with connecting what they see with what they hear. The working process behind the audible product is concealed from the audience, de-contextualising the listening experience. By exhibiting this working process as part of a performance we hoped to remove some of the layers of abstraction between the audible and the visual."

Four performers collaboratively live-code a concert, creating both the music and the software needed to produce that music through live improvisation. Each has their own area in which to work, and the contents of their computer screens is projected behind them, allowing the audience to observe and listen to both the individual elements of the performance, and the work as a whole, by moving through the space. 

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Concept: Seth Scott
Performers: Seth Scott, Jethro Cooke, Ben Hayes, Bryan Crook

May 30, 2015 - CASS Gallery, London
May 06, 2016 - Hoxton Gallery, London


Process

"There is a bit that’s gonna blow your mind. I’ll let you sit down and tell ya”

A stirring exploration of life, death and justice, The Listening Room features the true stories of five people whose lives have been transformed by a single violent crime. Years after trial and punishment, each one of them was given the chance to meet the person on the other side. This is the extraordinary story of what happened when they said yes.
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“You’ve gotta really think about… hang on a minute, what do I wanna say? Do I wanna tell em I wanna strangle you, what do I wanna say?” 

The Spectator: "Anyone with an interest in drama should see this show because it delivers all the perfections great theatre aims for. Playwrights will watch it with a mixture of wonder and despair. I doubt if there’s a writer alive who could recreate the range of emotions this play lays on. It drags the audience to the very limits of human endurance and demonstrates how far a personality can sink and what horrors it can tolerate and survive. You emerge with your consciousness altered, your conception of human beings elevated and amplified. Which is the goal of great drama. A painful, shocking, vital, uplifting experience. Quite unforgettable." 

TimeOut:  "Bags of innovative flair ... Told in such a way that it all feels like a big, emotionally wrought flashback"

London Theatre 1:  "If you’re after a performance piece that is as unconventional as it is inspirational then this is not one to miss."

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Writer/Creator: Harriet Madeley
Director: Max Barton
Composer/Sound Designer: Jethro Cooke

The Old Red Lion, February 7 - March 4 2017
Theatre Royal Stratford East, September 2017 (exact dates TBD)

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Jethro Cooke