Reckless Sleepers

Schrödinger (production) - Digital Theatre+

Schrödinger (production) - Digital Theatre+
(Production, 71 minutes) Created by Reckless Sleepers, Schrödinger is an experimental theatre project where the impossible is probable, and truth and illusion are inseparable. Captured live at the New Adelphi Theatre, Salford in 2022, this production sheds light on contemporary devised theatre and the development of theatrical forms through playful and rigorous practice.

Reckless Sleepers: An Interview with Mole Wetherell - Digital Theatre+

Reckless Sleepers: An Interview with Mole Wetherell - Digital Theatre+
(Interview video, 41 minutes) “The process is about playing... playing with the material and playing with each other and finding out how we could exist in this world.”

In conversation with Niki Woods (Artistic Director, New Adelphi Theatre at the University of Salford), Mole Wetherell charts the journey and practice of his company Reckless Sleepers, from its genesis in 1989.

Punctuated by projects through the years from Parasite and Schrödinger to Negative Space, Woods and Wetherell unpack audience relationships, devising techniques, choreography and the interdisciplinary collaborations comprised in the creative process of Reckless Sleepers.

Negative Space (production) - Digital Theatre+

Negative Space (production) - Digital Theatre+
(Production, 61 minutes) Negative Space is a remarkable piece of visual theatre. Using choreographed movement and actions within a plasterboard room without words or narrative - it allows the performers to make and break rules, make us laugh and make us gasp. This production was captured live at the New Adelphi Theatre at the University of Salford.

The company, Reckless Sleepers, introduces an entirely new grammar of representation, creating unique and exciting work which challenges how we think about what we see. Playing with meaning, logic and even ‘play’ itself, they present work which is bracing, funny and thought-provoking. Negative Space is the companion piece to their iconic show Schrödinger and brilliantly extends their reputation for original, ground-breaking performance.

Reckless Sleepers: A String Section – Trailer

(9:40) Five women, each with a handsaw and a chair engage in a slow dance with destruction. Elegance and sophistication give way to absurdity as the pull of gravity takes over. Driven to complete their uncompromising task, the five women struggle against, or give in to the inevitable, each in their own style: determination and dignity locked in a fight to the death.

Edinburgh Showcase 2015: 'A String Section' by Reckless Sleepers

(4:21) Anglo-Belgian company Reckless Sleepers creates original theatre pieces, installation projects and interventions for theatres, galleries, museums, and site-specific projects. Collaborating with a company of artists specialising in different art-forms, Reckless Sleepers produces works that are installed rather than presented and that embrace mistakes.

'A String Section' brings together choreographer Leen Dewilde and Scottish Chamber Orchestra cellist Su-a Lee to create a literal account of the show’s title. Five women attempt to saw the legs off their chairs, struggling against or giving into the inevitable, each in their own style, wavering between farcical brinkmanship and a process of unrelenting destruction.

Negative Space Trailer | Reckless Sleepers | Digital Theatre+

(0:53) Trailer video for Digital Theatre+ production video of Reckless Sleepers' Negative Space, captured at the New Adelphi Theatre, University of Salford.