ATRESBANDES to Tour ALL IN Across the UK

Experimental Catalan company forge an epic journey through 21st century life that encompasses dictatorships, national anthems, education, self-help manuals, nightclubs and love. ATRESBANDES use humour to question what it means to be an individual, or to conform.

In what at first appears an abstract selection of separate scenes ranging from stilted lunch dates in a newly-learnt language to an inventory of objects hoarded in a storage unit, the underlying theme of the individual versus the mass is revealed. As the action unravels, one character reappears, an outsider to the main group who attempts to assert his independence despite the pressure to follow the crowd. Signalling a new direction in the company's style and approach, the show uses carefully integrated lighting, soundscapes, visual effects and video to propel its protagonist through vastly different but interconnected scenarios.

Company co-founder Albert Pérez Hidalgo said, "We have found the beginning of the 21st century perplexing, as new freedoms clash with a new orthodoxy and it is this contradiction that has inspired ALL IN. The masses that religiously follow the instructions of a charismatic leader have been joined by a new multitude, constantly shouting the same slogan, "Be yourself!" With ALL IN, we want to question what's behind this mantra."

ATRESBANDES is a company from Barcelona with an international reach, whose work centres on a collective creative process, inspired by a diverse range of disciplines. Formed by Mònica Almirall Batet, Miquel Segovia Garrell and Albert Pérez Hidalgo in 2008, the company aims to question everything its members encounter, believing that doubt and uncertainty are as important as mutual understanding. In part an experiment in form, the role of the outsider is taken by performer Melcior Casals Castella and marks the first time that ATRESBANDES have created work with someone from outside the company.

They have won numerous awards including First Prize and Audience Prize at BE Festival 2012 for Solfatara, and Best Direction at Skena Up 2014 in Kosovo for Locus Amoenus, which was cited by Lyn Gardner of The Guardian as a top pick for the 2017 Fringe.

ALL IN was first performed at HOME, Manchester in April 2016 as part of ¡Viva! festival of Spanish and Latin American Arts. Since then, it has appeared at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2016 at Summerhall, Festival TNT, Terrassa in Spain and Sala Hiroshima, Barcelona. It was nominated for the BBVA Theatre Prize 2017.

Learn more at www.atresbandes.com.

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