I was invited to join the Hofesh Schechter company to tour the piece ‘Political Mother’ as a bassist and drummer in the autumn of 2012. This leg of the tour opened at NYC’s Brooklyn Academy of Music and continued up to Canada for a month before returning to the States to perform in Minneapolis. Since then the show has taken us to Qatar, Brazil, Austria, Chile, Italy and London’s Saddlers Wells and O2 Academy, Brixton.
In March of 2013 the company was invited to Derry, Northern Ireland as part of the ‘city of culture’ programme. We worked with local musicians and created an enlarged version of the already huge ‘Choreographer’s Cut of Political Mother’.
***** “Part dance show, part heavy-rock gig. An audio-visual marvel” DAILY TELEGRAPH
**** “This is one angry piece, delivered like a roar of defiance in the face of an omnipotent, malevolent force. It’s visceral, painful and very, very exciting” THE TIMES
“With its surreal concept, punchy, furiously energetic choreography and thunderous rock score, played live, this substantial new work is a terrific piece of staging and an experience like no other” SUNDAY TIMES
Commissioned by Sadler’s Wells & Brighton Festival, Political Mother brims with Shechter’s gritty and emotional complexity. Ten dancers of the Hofesh Shechter Company present an ever more surreal chain of encounters, leading to a series of shocking, amusing and touching events, which challenge our notion of what is ‘normal’.
Political Mother is accompanied by a cinematic score composed by Shechter himself and performed by a band of live musicians.
Since his first performances at Sadler’s Wells in 2007 Hofesh Shechter has become one of the UK’s most celebrated artists. His work has been seen on stages around the world and on the opening credits of Channel 4’s Skins.
**** “Hofesh Shechter. It’s a name to remember” NEW YORK TIMES
**** “Just when you think you’ve got the measure of him, he throws something entirely unexpected and incredibly apt into the mix” THE TIMES
