When it comes to site-responsive performance, dreamthinkspeak's founder and artistic director, Tristan Sharps is the original trailblazer. The Brighton based company was created in 1999 (just ahead of Punchdrunk and You Me Bum Bum Train) and has since become internationally recognised - creating work for sites as diverse as an underground abattoir in Clerkenwell, a disused paper factory in Moscow and the Old Treasury Building in Perth, Australia.

This January, the company return to Somerset House with their much anticipated production In The Beginning Was The End. The creative starting point was a Leonardo Da Vinci drawing, entitled 'A Cloudburst of Material Possessions': a surreal and apocalyptic vision depicting a torrential downpour of man-made objects. It is an image of man’s obsession with materialism and mass production at the expense of spiritual growth.

As an audience, we've been told to expect a series of journeys through calamitous, sometimes bizarre, accidents and divine revelations. Mixing Leonardo-inspired hydraulics and modern mechanical engineering with dreamthinkspeak’s special blend of film, installation and live performance, it'll reveal a vision of the world either on the verge collapse - or the brink of rebirth.

We caught up with Tristan to ask about his own journey into theatre, and his latest production.

RR: Can you tell us about your journey into the world of theatre?
Tristan Sharps: I was always fascinated by visual art and architecture before I was really aware of theatre. I'd happily wander around art galleries and mooch about buildings of all shapes and sizes. It was partly to escape home, which was a problematic place to be, and partly because I have always been drawn to different worlds and undiscovered spaces. Galleries and buildings were places where I could feel space and freedom. I could wander around at will, stay for as long as I liked, leave when I liked… The only problem was that at school, I couldn't translate these feelings I had into the art class. I never had a natural facility for drawing and when I tried something a bit more abstract, my art teacher would immediately knock me back. Art was very badly taught in my school – criminally so. I lost confidence in myself as a visual person and then fell into acting. It was something I could do reasonably well – and when you're young you're always looking for something that you can do – something that will give you a bit of confidence.

Through the acting, I found myself more and more interested in directing. It was more about the architecture of theatre, so closer to my initial passions. I did a huge amount of directing on the fringe in London and Edinburgh – including a period when I was obsessed with Polish drama. I was fascinated by Kantor, who was also a visual artist, and some of the then great playwrights like Mrozek and Rosiewicz. Theatre in those days was really an old boys network (still is to an extent). I never felt I fitted in, and couldn't see how I might develop further. I also had the nagging feeling that directing plays was not what I was really good at.

To cut a very long story short – taking in a stint as a teacher in the East End; a couple of years at Jacques Lecoq in Paris; and several years as an actor – I got together with a group called Shaker in 1995. Together we worked on a new piece inspired by Dostoyevsky's The Gambler at The Hawth in Crawley. Instead of using the theatre space, we used the dressing rooms, gardens, woods and even the rail track as part of the piece. We re-created the studio theatre as a casino where the audience could gamble away with chips they had picked up as part of their journey around the space. It wasn't perfect, but it made me realise what had been inside me all along – I was connecting live performance to space.

We recreated the piece the following year using the basement and back areas of The Union Chapel. I took a bit of a lead in how we responded to the space and from that point on realised that this is what I wanted to pursue! I think once you have the bit between your teeth, you're ready to go. It was something that was always there, but had never found shape – when it does, you know and pursue it to the nth degree.

RR: What other art forms - or artists for that matter - inspire you?
Tristan Sharps: Visual art in all its forms touches me in every way more than theatre ever could. I have had some great nights in the theatre, particularly seeing work that passed through Paris in the late 80's / early 90's that never touched the UK until LIFT came along. LIFT changed the landscape I think. Robert Wilson's HG was an influence on me, particularly in the very subtle use of sound – that was a revelation. I'm still amazed at how badly sound is relayed
around a theatre – particularly for dance – it's just blasted through speakers, numbing you completely. I saw a wonderful piece at the Southbank a few years back by Saburo Teshigawara. He had the speakers placed right up in the flying area of the stage – the sound seemed to seep out the stage and out of the dance – rather than being blasted at you!

In the visual art world I love the video work of David Clarebout – his films are very subtle and layered, very thought-provoking but also very beautiful - finding the darkness and light in life. I think one of the most underrated artists is Charles Avery. He has a wonderful mixed media installation called The Islanders which he has been developing over a long period. He's hard to pin down – part philosopher, intellectual, comedian, sculptor and brilliant drawer. His work is so layered and the more you put into it the more you get out. Sometimes the piece he makes for this series get shown out of context – which is a shame – I really hope it can all come together again as it will be well worth seeing.

RR: Why did you found dreamthinkspeak?
Tristan Sharps: It was basically because I'd realised what I wanted to do – and forming a company seemed the best way of realising that. After the 1995/6 show I had a couple of failed Arts Council applications for similar work I was trying to get off the ground. I kept trying and finally third time we got lucky and dreamthinkspeak was born in 1999.

[A cloudburst of material possessions | c.1510-13 | Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) | Probably acquired by Charles II; Royal Collection by 1690]

RR: Can you tell us about the collaborators and your creative process with them?
Tristan Sharps: My process is a very strange one and not something I would recommend. I always have several ideas buzzing around my head. For this project, it was the drawing by Leonardo [da Vinci] of a torrential downpour of rain with lots of material objects – like a surreal apocalyptic flood of materialism! It made me think of our own end-of-world fears and the issues around flooding for us in terms of climate change and sea-level rises. I always have an array of visual images attached to any one idea as I mull it over. But when I get shown a building, those ideas start to take much more concrete shape. Here the basic ideas had been with me for a few years, but being shown some of the recently vacated area of Somerset House and the old engineering wing of King's Cultural Institute – it all began to take very clear shape in my head.

At this point it's fairly solitary – I spend a lot of time absorbing the buildings – their usage, but also the details of their interiors. The ideas start to take shape around the specific details of these spaces. As things develop I invite more and more people on board as collaborators – production manager, technicians, carpenters etc – these are the key people, rather than dreamers like me! For Before I Sleep I did a lot of the design sketches, but my drawing is atrocious. Now I work with people who are much better than me at sketching! I design the piece, but in this respect I collaborate closely with people who are builders and model makers. They are the lifeblood of the work. I used to do all the filming myself, but now I direct the filming and create the shots - no longer doing the technical work. I guess I'm pretty hands-on creatively, but have learned to try and step back in other areas – and the work benefits as a result. But there is something always a bit haphazard about this process – it's an imprecise science and I like to work with people who understand that, and don't demand things by the book.

RR: What's the significance of the location?
Tristan Sharps: In some ways that is quite simple. We did a piece here in other areas in 2004, and they'd always wanted the company to do another piece. I wasn't sure – but then when the East and West wing's of Somerset House became vacant, particularly the basement areas, I got excited. I thought the whole neo-classical feel of the architecture was visually a fertile ground for the Leonardo idea I'd had in my head. But it wasn't quite enough – I didn't want to get sucked into the renaissance world – I wanted the piece to talk about the world we live in now. When I saw the engineering wing of King's [Cultural Institute], who came on board as partners, then I got even more excited – it opened up the scientific elements of his world and at that point I felt the different spaces combined in a really interesting way. That is just a starting point. It made it clear to me I could do something interesting – from then on it was about immersing myself in the space and responding to the detail of the sites.

RR: 'Energising the creative response to climate change' - reads the strap line of Tipping Point, the co-funders of In The Beginning was The End. How does this shared value translate into the production?
Tristan Sharps: The piece itself is not purely focused on this element – but as an artist living in the world of today and creating a new piece of work that is looking at end-of-the-world myths, it is a natural part of that dialogue. Tipping Point have been very supportive of this.

RR: A timely question as we enter the festive season and new year: what's your take on materialism vs spiritual growth in contemporary culture?
Tristan Sharps: I think we're all materialists! It's become part of the DNA of our global structure. It's connected to globalisation – which is a way of responding to the growing need for mass production of products to feed an ever-growing urban population. I still shop too much at a local supermarket and I don't recycle everything fully. I'm as bad as the next person. I'm trying, but not hard enough. There's more to do. It may take a cataclysm – or a genuine understanding of the perils of what we are doing to the environment – or a world revolution – or a genuine and definitive collapse in our capitalist structures – or, as I suspect, a necessary combination of these factors, before we really wake up and change.

RR: What advice would you offer the audience before they enter your production?
Tristan Sharps: Bring a coat and comfortable shoes. And please don't drive! Take the tube or a bus! Hoover up every single bit of detail in the show – then let it replay over in your mind for days after. Don't feel you have to work it all out in one go – the meaning will reveal itself to you.

RR: What do you want the audience to walk away with?
Tristan Sharps: A programme – they are free at the end. We never give them at the beginning. Keep the dream of the show with you, if you like it, and it will stay with you for a long while after (if it doesn't – then blame me).

RR: Can you treat us to a Tristan Sharps London anecdote?
Tristan Sharps: Yes – it's a global anecdote. My company is based in Brighton, where I live, but I spent most of my life in London, prior to 1998. I was born in St Pancras hospital – but that no longer exists! So much of my childhood has been erased by the ever-increasing cycle of development. Many of the places I have lived in London have transformed. We are in a mania of "regeneration" - convinced it's the way to kick-start economic growth, as if that's the most important thing for us. We should slow down! The faster the pace of regeneration, the faster the pace of degeneration. Buildings are built to last only for a small period, because developers know they will be knocked down within thirty years as the land is bought up and redeveloped.  It's the same with ideologies, new products, test match cricket, snooker, one-off cafes, boutique shops and my local fruit and veg market. They all get bought out by money and driven by the demand of money – they change, get bought by chains, get shorter, or redeveloped by big property firms. And I still shop at my local supermarket.

Tristan Sharps is the Founder and Artistic Director of dreamthinkspeak
Official site: dreamthinkspeak.com

In the Beginning was the End
A dreamthinkspeak production presented by Somerset House and King's Cultural Institute
28 January – 30 March 2013
at Somerset House
The Strand, London WC2R 1LA

For more information and to book tickets somersethouse.org.uk/beginning

In the Beginning was the End is co-commissioned by Somerset House Trust, King’s Cultural Institute and TippingPoint. Sponsored by Bloomberg. Supported by Arts Council England.