31 Jul 2020

The Grange Festival presents Precipice, an outdoor promenade performance

On 21, 22 and 23 August 2020, The Grange Festival will present Precipice, an outdoor immersive promenade performance using the many varied natural stages offered by the buildings and gardens at The Grange in Hampshire. Created by the critically-acclaimed director Sinéad O’Neill and designed by Joanna Parker, the performance will last one hour and a small audience of up to 60 people will be guided through the sequence of events with spoken text by the actor, writer and director Tonderai Monyevu. There will be four performances each day.

The musical scenes will include Sir John Tomlinson performing a Hans Sachs monologue from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, whilst soprano Kiandra Howarth and mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones, both prize winners at the Grange Festival International Singing Competition 2019, will present the flower duet from Delibes’ Lakmé. John Andrews conducts members of The Grange Festival Chorus and others in performances of music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Francis Poulenc and Lili Boulanger, as well as John Tavener and Caroline Shaw. 

Dance@TheGrange has always been an integral part of the annual festival, and Precipice features works by two leading choreographers. Shobana Jeyasingh will stage Mini Contagion performed by members of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance, whilst South African dancer and choreographer Mthuthuzeli November of Ballet Black has created a new piece for the final scene of Precipice. The full company also includes performance artists and acrobats. 

Precipice has been conceived in precise adherence to current government guidelines for outdoor assembly. 

Michael Chance comments: “The journey which the audience will be asked to take is on many levels: physical, emotional and philosophical. It is a response to the extreme challenges of this very moment in all our lives but is ultimately a demonstration of the power of live music, dance, theatre and art as a source of meaning and hope and redemption.” 

Tickets for Precipice are available from 4 August 2020.