In the east end edge-lands of 1992, a mother struggles to deal with the aftermath of an unimaginable event. With music influences from Punk, Nineties Pop and English Folk this hard hitting dance work is a study of ordinary lives and extraordinary love.
Choreographer/director
Jen Malarkey in collaboration with Carl Harrison
Cast
Mother Carl Harrison
Son Carl Harrison
Commissioned by Company Chameleon via UPLIFT
On The Kids Are Alright
"It’s ridiculous, absurd, infuriating and, at points, very, very sad. Which makes it an almost perfect portrayal of an attempt to navigate loss in the aftermath of an utterly unfathomable event. A jumbled-up clown dance through a blank space: that’s grief all right."︎︎︎︎ The Stage
Lockdown Hit: Show of 2020
Encounter’s hypnotic dance on grief was reinterpreted for digital using one long take. It captured the feeling of staring out of your window in lockdown into snippets of stranger’s lives. Director Jen Malarkey did not simply rework the show for digital – she made the medium integral to it.
Francesca Peschier
It is an agony to watch, and I mean that as the biggest compliment.
Lyn Gardner, Stage Door
The outdoor nature-concrete setting undeniably provides a sense of journey that a theatre space couldn’t. As the end of the day cocoons around Karen and Keith, people walk home, avoiding the invisible boundaries of grass and pavement under a darkening purple sky. Front doors open and close. The cameras keep the space open and our relationship with the couple ever evolving, even though by the end we know nothing much about them except the aching hole they share. Replaying the experience in my mind the space is imbued with meaning. Next to the tree. In the bush. In between the flats on the paving stones where they dance and talk about prawns and Asda. Place is a poignant trigger for memory. Naomi Obeng, Exeunt Magazine JEN MALARKEY
Jen Malarkey is a rare artist; She works cross artform – she’s interested in movement led work that has text and spoken language at the heart of the storytelling. The two forms (physical and spoken) have equity in her work and align to create an often explosive practice.
Louise Blackwell
Independant Producer and Co-founder of Fuel.
Jen’s work really interests us. She combines text and movement with rare confidence, flair and skill. Her ideas are distinct and convincing. Christina Elliot
Senior Producer, The Place
I really enjoyed the complexity (Of I Heart Catherine Pistachio) - never quite finding my narrative feet or locating a physical style. This made it bizarre and rich.
Eddie Nixon
Artistic Director, The Place
It’s not often that one encounters* work in theatre and performance that feels utterly distinctive. When you do, it leaps out. I’d heard of Jen and her work before I met her and so first I’d looked at I Heart Catherine Pistachio online and it did that - it leapt out. A rare collision of dark absurd humour with a sharp and delicate kind of honesty. It didn’t look or sound like anything I was aware of being made in the UK. The choreography shifts between a consciously awkward mawkish physicality and a fluidity that has real beauty in it. It’s tender, clever, human and humane work.
Richard Gregory
Artistic Director, Quarantine
