Flesh and Text: Devising Performance by Bodies in Flight

Presents the history and an analysis of the experimental theater works produced by Bodies in Flight.

Based in Bristol and Nottingham, the performance group Bodies in Flight makes works where flesh utters and words move, challenging and re-energizing the relationship between audiences and performers as well as audiences and place.

Drawing on rigorous interdisciplinary and collaborative methods, they use words and images, movement and stillness, and voices and bodies to engage audiences emotionally and spiritually.

Intended as an inspiration to emerging artists, the volume covers key themes for any maker of contemporary performance: the relationship of choreography and spoken word; the use of new technologies and multimedia; the role of original music and soundscapes; the differences between work presented in a theater, gallery, or sited in non-theatrical places; and the persistence of theater as an art form in an increasingly digital culture.

This highly illustrated volume includes selections of scripts and archival material from thirty years of making devised theater and performance in the UK and internationally. It also features texts by collaborators, arts professionals, and scholars exploring the company’s collaborative working method, contextualizing it in the wider performance ecology and culture.
 

Simon Jones is a theater director and writer. Simon is director of Bodies in Flight and emeritus professor of performance at the University of Bristol, UK.

Sara Giddens was a choreographer and theater director. She was also a professor of choreographic practice at the University of Central Lancashire, UK.