201 Dance Company Will Present SAD BOOK, Adapted From The Novel By Michael Rosen

201 Dance Company will present SAD BOOK, adapted from the novel by Michael Rosen.

Following a critically acclaimed world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 201 Dance Company has announced the UK tour of Sad Book which was inspired by Michael Rosen's award-winning novel. This compelling adaptation is a visually inventive, moving story about navigating complex emotions in the midst of everyday life. 

Selected tour dates, including the Hackney Empire will feature live, in person narration from Michael Rosen. 

In this personal story of loss, a father explores the disconnection between what we feel, what we show, and different ways we deal with sadness. Sad Book makes the deeply personal, universal, retelling the story through dance, physical theatre, animation and stunning original music. 

Directed and Choreographed by 201 Dance Company's Artistic Director, Andrea Walker, Sad Book is the third touring production by this trailblazing company, renowned for presenting emotional, evocative pieces with cinematic production design. Andrea Walker describes reading Michael Rosen's award winning Sad Book as being the first time he felt his own mental health and experience of grief were directly ‘spoken to'.  The beauty in the simplistic, conversational language created a pathway into the complex emotion of sadness and Andrea's vision for his dance theatre adaptation began from the moment he read the final page.  

201 Dance is honoured to be trusted by Michael to adapt such an important piece of work.  

201 Dance Company present the Sad Book UK Tour in partnership with Child Bereavement UK and The HERA Project. Audiences visiting performances on tour will be able to participate in a programme of post-show discussions featuring special guests, accompanying workshops and be supported by a compassionate and trained listener should they experience overwhelming emotions whilst watching the show. 

In six years 201 Dance Company has staged highly anticipated pieces at Edinburgh Festival Fringe followed by UK tours showcasing their unique style of dance with a theatrical narrative. Past productions include Smother in 2015 and 2016 and SKIN in 2017. 

201 Dance Company was founded in 2014 by Choreographer and Artistic Director Andrea Walker. The company is queer-led, and brings together experienced artists and producers to create daring new work that is socially responsive, accessible and tackles current social issues with a particular focus on mental health. The team share a drive to tell stories that matter and give a voice to underrepresented groups, whilst performing outstanding, original dance to diverse audiences.

Andrea Walker – Artistic Director / Choreographer 

Andrea is the founder and Artistic Director of 201 Dance Company, and choreographer of 201's award winning SKIN and Smother. Based in Brighton, Andrea began dancing aged 14 in Rome, Italy, and continued to study and explore dance at The Metropolitan Arts Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, and at The Broadway Dance Center in New York, where he graduated with a Certificate of Excellence and won the Outstanding Student Award in June 2014. Walker also has a BA in Film and Television Production from the University of Westminster. He choreographed and danced Ebony Bones' European tour, and choreographed a world-premiere for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago in 2019. Most recently, Walker has been working closely with Brighton Pride and their headline acts, including Kylie Minogue and Girls Aloud. Other credits include working with Coldplay, Aggro Santos, Xbox, T-Mobile, Martini and D&G.

Michael Rosen – Author of SAD BOOK and Live Narrator (Selected dates) 

Michael is an English children's author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster, activist, and academic, who is a professor of children's literature in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has written over 200 books for children and adults. Select books include We're Going on a Bear Hunt (1989) and Sad Book (2004). He served as Children's Laureate from June 2007 to June 2009. He won the 2023 PEN Pinter Prize, awarded by English PEN, for his "fearless" body of work.

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