Clod Ensemble Present: An Anatomie In Four Quarters

Clod Ensemble and Manchester Camerata invite audiences to discover The Lowry’s Lyric theatre as they’ve never seen it before as the company launches the venue’s inaugural Week 53 festival.

“An Anatomie in Four Quarters presents big ideas more tantalising than its beguilingly various components.” **** Sunday Times

The anatomy of The Lowry’s 1,700 seat Lyric Theatre will be dissected, and an audience of only 200 invited to explore the auditorium and stage as an international cast of dancers and musicians present Clod Ensemble’s celebration of the structure of the human form.

Set to an original score including live strings, percussion and voice, An Anatomie in Four Quarters is a performance on the move, with the audience experiencing radically different viewing positions throughout the theatre. The production draws on a rich history of anatomical study and drawings, from the Renaissance anatomists to x-ray film footage of the human skeleton – An Anatomie in Four Quarters investigates human beings’ insatiable desire to get closer to things and discover what lies beneath the skin.

Originally commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and since performed at the Wales Millennium Centre, An Anatomie in Four Quarters at The Lowry Salford will include musicians from the acclaimed chamber orchestra Manchester Camerata and local dancers selected from The Lowry Centre for Advanced Training.

Julia Fawcett OBE, chief executive of The Lowry, said: “Clod Ensemble is one of the most exciting arts organisations in the country and we are incredibly proud to present An Anatomie in Four Quarters as part of Week 53. Their performance will use our Lyric Theatre in a way no production has before and its merging of the worlds of dance, drama and music chimes very much with The Lowry’s own artistic ambition.”

Clod Ensemble’s Artistic Director Suzy Willson said “It is a real privilege to present An Anatomie in Four Quarters in Salford – an opportunity for people to have intimate experience of The Lowry’s magnificent Lyric Theatre. An Anatomie is a celebration of the human form and all that it contains. And it is about getting some perspective on things – because buildings, people, relationships (and life generally) looks and feels very different depending on whether we are close up or far away. It is a pleasure for us to share this piece with the people who know and love this building and with those who are experiencing it for the first time.

About Clod Ensemble

Clod Ensemble, led by Suzy Willson and Paul Clark, has been making work that crosses the boundaries between dance, theatre and visual art for 20 years. Since the company’s inception in 1995, Clod Ensemble has collaborated with artists working in a wide range of media including performance, music, visual art, photography, film and poetry to make work for theatre spaces, festivals and galleries including Tate Modern Turbine Hall, Public Theater New York City, Trafalgar Square, as well as creating projects and curating work in places where art does not usually or regularly happen including medical schools, day care centres and prisons.

Director Suzy Willson has also initiated a number of projects that draw on the interplay between art and science, including developing the ground-breaking Performing Medicine project which provides training to medical students and healthcare practitioners at undergraduate and postgraduate level using the performing and visual arts. The project has been awarded a Times Higher Award for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts.