Love Down the Line

There's something a little different on offer this Valentine's weekend as New Perspectives join forces with rural theatre maker Sophia Hatfield, who runs Stute Theatre, to offer love-themed dramas designed to be performed live to an audience of just one at a time.

Love Down the Line will be performed on the telephone every 15 minutes on 13 February from 2pm to 9.45pm and on 14 February from 11am to 8.45pm.

Love Down the Line is New Perspectives' latest series playing with form and experimenting how intimate theatre can exist in lockdown.

The bite-sized plays last for 5 minutes and are directed by New Perspective's artistic Director Jack McNamara and will be performed by Sophia Hatfield on the hour and half hour, and by Ollie Smith at quarter past and quarter to the hour.

Jack McNamara said ...

"In the digital swamp we find ourselves in, I feel a renewed love for older forms of communication in all their creaky beauty.

Following on from touring theatre on postcards, we were soon drawn to the telephone medium as a way of creating a new intimacy with audiences across different generations.

Sophia Hatfield has already broken ground with this old/new medium, telephoning audiences throughout 2020 and we are thrilled to be bringing her discoveries into our mix to offer something truly different this Valentines."

Sophia Hatfield added ...

"I'm delighted to be able to work with New Perspectives on this exciting new idea.

Telephone Theatre is an innovative way of bringing an immersive live experience to audiences, whilst also allowing performers to work from home.

I can't wait to spread some joy and share a bit of quality live theatre with our audiences this Valentine's!"

About the companies

New Perspectives is an East Midlands based company with over 40 years experience of touring high-quality productions to venues of all sizes across the UK, from mid-scale theatres to village halls.

With a strong rural core, they create productions to fit spaces of any size in order to bring new work that is unexpected and thought-provoking to a wide range of audiences.

Since 2012, New Perspectives has been led by Artistic Director Jack McNamara.

Their series PlacePrints, ranked the UK's 25th most popular fiction podcast (2020) is currently available and Soho On Demand is hosting their Zoom adaptation of The Boss of It All starring Josie Lawrence.

The Stage Award winning The Fishermen by Gbolohan Obisesan (Trafalgar Studios, Assembly George Square Studios and UK Tour) will be available on BBC Radio 3 towards the end of February.

Other recent productions have included WhatsApp drama Stay Safe, a series of Christmas cards, and their internationally successful postcard drama Love From Cleethorpes which has reached over 2,000 letterboxes in 26 countries..

Stute Theatre is a collaborative theatre company run by performer and theatre maker Sophia Hatfield.

Sophia is an experienced performer, writer and facilitator and is an Artsmark Partner.

Each piece of work at Stute Theatre is shaped by freelance artists, arts organisations and communities.

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