Alexander Knott and BoxLess Theatre are bringing their new play Ballooniana! to the New Wimbledon Theatre from 22 September – 1 October 2022. Ballooniana! takes the story of the creation of the hot air balloon and melds it with Boxless Theatre’s signature style of combining physical theatre, original music and spoken word poetry. During the first week we sat down with Alex to hear more about it.
Grace Nicol: Your new play is called ‘Ballooniana’! can you tell us a bit more about it and where we can see it?
Alexander Knott: It’s the story of the invention of the hot air balloon but it’s also about a lot more than that! It’s three tales of our shared desire to go up into the sky. So, we tell the Myth of Icarus and Daedalus, building wings and flying away from captivity, we show the aftermath of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, and we reframe the Montgolfier Brothers (the inventors of the balloon) for 2022. Expect a vibrant, restless new show, filled with movement, live original music, puppets and balloons. It’s on at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio 22 September to 1 October.
Grace: What is it like making works based in history for today’s audience? And what do you intend to come from this?
Alex: We came at this play from a highly anachronistic and anarchic point of view! I researched the lives of the Montgolfiers, the myths and the true stories, but in both the writing and particularly the staging, we’ve thrown everything at it. The Brothers wear converse trainers, the Ancient Gods speak in poetry on a microphone, the King of France wears an Elvis Presley T shirt! We’ve been inspired by Emma Rice and Sally Cookson’s work, and we want to tell a fresh, modern version of these classic stories and old tales. Reimagining history from a vivid, modern perspective. As long as audiences leave having had an entertaining and intriguing evening, we’re happy!
Grace: You are collaborating with some other artists on the show, who are they and how do the different disciplines intersect?
Alex: The members of our BoxLess Theatre ensemble working on this one include our Artistic Director Zöe Grain as Jacques, frequent collaborators James Demaine on live original music and as King Louis, sound design from Samuel Heron, and Freya Sharp as Joseph – and loads of devising and movement from all the on stage members of the company. Zöe and Freya are ceaselessly imaginative devisers as well as movement directors in their own right, so the play is a combination of elements of dance, with a live underscore complementing original sound design. It’s a huge team effort.
Grace: You have previously won awards for your shows and your work was described as ‘a symbol of resurgence in the arts’ by Sir Michael Morpurgo, how does this work fit or not fit into the cannon of works you have created?
Alex: This one is full of ideas, bursting with them, chock-a-block with them. Who knew a corpse could be made of balloons? That a carriage could be creating with circus silk twirling sticks? That the invention of the hot air balloon could be expressed through dance? It’s all here! BoxLess’ plays are always charged with an unstoppable forward motion, a restless physically charged energy – and this is no exception. It’s very much a BoxLess show, our 5th Anniversary production, and so it’s a distillation of 5 years worth of ideas, and collaborating together.
Grace: What do you want audiences to get from the play?
Alex: Lots of people don’t know the story of the Montgolfiers – and the bizarre experiments and events that led to the balloon’s creation. The King of France as their patron, their tests sending up live animals instead of humans, and on top of everything that did happen, our play is narrated by two clown-like travelling Player Vaudevilians. We hope it’s a zany, exuberant, slightly mad night at the theatre – I think it will be unlike anything else on in London.
Grace: Anything else we’ve missed?
Alex: No, you’ve covered it. But I’ll say again – LIVE MUSIC! A NEW PLAY! PUPPETS! BALLOONS! Come on, that’s worth coming to see.
Alexander Knott and BoxLess Theatre are bringing their new play Ballooniana! to the New Wimbledon Theatre from 22 September – 1 October 2022. Ballooniana! takes the story of the creation of the hot air balloon and melds it with Boxless Theatre’s signature style of combining physical theatre, original music and spoken word poetry. During the first week we sat down with Alex to hear more about it.
Alexander Knott and BoxLess Theatre are bringing their new play Ballooniana! to the New Wimbledon Theatre from 22 September – 1 October 2022. Ballooniana! takes the story of the creation of the hot air balloon and melds it with Boxless Theatre’s signature style of combining physical theatre, original music and spoken word poetry. During the first week we sat down with Alex to hear more about it.
Grace Nicol: Your new play is called Ballooniana! can you tell us a bit more about it and where we can see it?
Alexander Knott: It’s the story of the invention of the hot air balloon but it’s also about a lot more than that! It’s three tales of our shared desire to go up into the sky. So, we tell the Myth of Icarus and Daedalus, building wings and flying away from captivity, we show the aftermath of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, and we reframe the Montgolfier Brothers (the inventors of the balloon) for 2022. Expect a vibrant, restless new show, filled with movement, live original music, puppets and balloons. It’s on at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio 22 September to 1 October.
Grace: What is it like making works based in history for today’s audience? And what do you intend to come from this?
Alex: We came at this play from a highly anachronistic and anarchic point of view! I researched the lives of the Montgolfiers, the myths and the true stories, but in both the writing and particularly the staging, we’ve thrown everything at it. The Brothers wear converse trainers, the Ancient Gods speak in poetry on a microphone, the King of France wears an Elvis Presley T shirt! We’ve been inspired by Emma Rice and Sally Cookson’s work, and we want to tell a fresh, modern version of these classic stories and old tales. Reimagining history from a vivid, modern perspective. As long as audiences leave having had an entertaining and intriguing evening, we’re happy!
Grace: You are collaborating with some other artists on the show, who are they and how do the different disciplines intersect?
Alex: The members of our BoxLess Theatre ensemble working on this one include our Artistic Director Zöe Grain as Jacques, frequent collaborators James Demaine on live original music and as King Louis, sound design from Samuel Heron, and Freya Sharp as Joseph – and loads of devising and movement from all the on stage members of the company. Zöe and Freya are ceaselessly imaginative devisers as well as movement directors in their own right, so the play is a combination of elements of dance, with a live underscore complementing original sound design. It’s a huge team effort.
Grace: You have previously won awards for your shows and your work was described as ‘a symbol of resurgence in the arts’ by Sir Michael Morpurgo, how does this work fit or not fit into the cannon of works you have created?
Grace: You have previously won awards for your shows and your work was described as ‘a symbol of resurgence in the arts’ by Sir Michael Morpurgo, how does this work fit or not fit into the cannon of works you have created?
Alex: This one is full of ideas, bursting with them, chock-a-block with them. Who knew a corpse could be made of balloons? That a carriage could be creating with circus silk twirling sticks? That the invention of the hot air balloon could be expressed through dance? It’s all here! BoxLess’ plays are always charged with an unstoppable forward motion, a restless physically charged energy – and this is no exception. It’s very much a BoxLess show, our 5th Anniversary production, and so it’s a distillation of 5 years worth of ideas, and collaborating together.
Grace: You have previously won awards for your shows and your work was described as ‘a symbol of resurgence in the arts’ by Sir Michael Morpurgo, how does this work fit or not fit into the cannon of works you have created?
Grace: You have previously won awards for your shows and your work was described as ‘a symbol of resurgence in the arts’ by Sir Michael Morpurgo, how does this work fit or not fit into the cannon of works you have created?
Grace: What do you want audiences to get from the play?
Alex: Lots of people don’t know the story of the Montgolfiers – and the bizarre experiments and events that led to the balloon’s creation. The King of France as their patron, their tests sending up live animals instead of humans, and on top of everything that did happen, our play is narrated by two clown-like travelling Player Vaudevilians. We hope it’s a zany, exuberant, slightly mad night at the theatre – I think it will be unlike anything else on in London.
Grace: Anything else we’ve missed?
Alex: No, you’ve covered it. But I’ll say again – LIVE MUSIC! A NEW PLAY! PUPPETS! BALLOONS! Come on, that’s worth coming to see.
Watch Ballooniana! at the New Wimbledon Theatre from 22 September – 1 October 2022.
Alex: Lots of people don’t know the story of the Montgolfiers – and the bizarre experiments and events that led to the balloon’s creation. The King of France as their patron, their tests sending up live animals instead of humans, and on top of everything that did happen, our play is narrated by two clown-like travelling Player Vaudevilians. We hope it’s a zany, exuberant, slightly mad night at the theatre – I think it will be unlike anything else on in London.
Grace Nicol: Your new play is called ‘Ballooniana’! can you tell us a bit more about it and where we can see it?
Alexander Knott: It’s the story of the invention of the hot air balloon but it’s also about a lot more than that! It’s three tales of our shared desire to go up into the sky. So, we tell the Myth of Icarus and Daedalus, building wings and flying away from captivity, we show the aftermath of Neil Armstrong landing on the moon, and we reframe the Montgolfier Brothers (the inventors of the balloon) for 2022. Expect a vibrant, restless new show, filled with movement, live original music, puppets and balloons. It’s on at New Wimbledon Theatre Studio 22 September to 1 October.
