Fuel Presents THE ROOF, Commissioned by National Theatre's LIFT, Now thru June 28

THE ROOF, the brand new panoramic performance, directed by David Rosenberg (co-founder of Shunt) and Frauke Requardt in thier third collaboration following Electric Hotel (also a Fuel production) and Motor Show, begins today at Doon Street Car Park.

In a purpose-built venue from set designer of the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony Jon Bausor, audiences for THE ROOF, standing throughout, will experience the breathless mix of 360 degree hair-trigger movement, influenced by free running and set against the skyline of London, with intimate, three dimensional music and sound by Dave Price via individual headphones.

A door opens and an immaculate ?gure steps out onto a roof. Knives are sharpened and the game begins...

Within the suspended reality of a brutal and unforgiving game, THE ROOF will transport audiences into the body of a reluctant hero, desperate to stay alive.

Requardt & Rosenberg and Fuel have been working with 3Run to train the dancers in elements of Parkour. 3Run is a world leading professional performance team specialising in Parkour, based in Basingstoke

Forming part of this exciting new summer venue will be the SALTBOX bar. Run by Fuel and the National Theatre, this unique hangout will be open daily to audiences and non-show ticket holders.

Fuel Presents/Requardt & Rosenberg's THE ROOF in association with the National Theatre. Commissioned by LIFT as part of the Imagine 2020 network, with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union. Funded by Arts Council England. Supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation, the Backstage Trust and the Binks Trust.

THE ROOF will run at Doon Street Car Park, Upper Ground, London SE1 (Directly opposite the National Theatre), playing today, 30 May - 28 June 2014. Opening night is set for Monday 9 June. For preview performances between 30 May and 8 June: Monday - Saturday at 9.30pm. From 9 June: Monday - Saturday at 9.30pm, With Friday and Saturday early evening performances at 7pm

Ticket Prices: £24.50 Previews: 30 May - 7 June; £29.50 from 9 June onwards; £19.50 concessions. Age restriction: 12yrs +. Box Office: 020 7452 3000. For more information, visit nationaltheatre.org.uk or fueltheatre.com.

Bad Weather: As the performance space is completely uncovered, and you will be standing throughout, dress appropriately. The performance is designed to take place in all weathers, and will continue unless the weather makes it impossible for the dancers to perform. Please see the website for full details of what happens in the event of a cancelled performance, and for any access queries.

THE ROOF will tour in the summer with dates to be announced soon.

David Rosenberg (Director) graduated from the University of Manchester, Faculty of Medicine (Mb ChB). As a theatre practitioner, he co- founded Shunt to pursue an interest in the role of an audience in theatrical productions. Working with Frauke Requardt he conceived and co-directed Electric Hotel (Fuel) and Motor Show. For Shunt he has directed all the company shows including The Architects (based on the Greek minotaur myth), Money (based on L'Argent by Emile Zola and the 2008 financial storm), Amato Saltone (inspired by the hard boiled fiction of Cornell Woolrich), Tropicana (it was never completely clear what this one was about), Dance Bear Dance (exploring the gunpowder plot and other less than successful acts of terrorism), The Ballad of Bobby Francois (the story of a Uruguay rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972) and The Tennis Show (an exploration of the etiquette and hierarchy of lawn tennis). His first solo project employing binaural sound technology was Contains Violence (Lyric Hammersmith, 2008). Recently he has been working with writer Glen Neath making sound performances in the dark the first of which: Ring opened 2012 and is still currently touring. In his shows, audience members find themselves referred to increasingly more, until they become the subjects of the piece.

Frauke Requardt (Director/Choreographer) trained in Germany, New York and London. As well as directing dance and performance, she has also worked as one of Lea Anderson's Cholmondeleys. Frauke has presented her work in the UK and internationally, having enjoyed residencies in Colombia, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany. Her full-evening works to date include Jammy Dodgers, a fantastical world, with a rolling line up of bands from the London contemporary Jazz scene; the Lynch-esque Roadkill Cafe; and Pequenas Delicias, an absurdist site-specific piece for cafes and restaurants. Frauke was an associate artist at The Place between 2004-6 and is currently a 'Work Place' artist there. She is also an associate artist at Greenwich Dance Agency. Electric Hotel, her first collaboration with David Rosenberg (produced by Fuel, commissioned by Sadler's Wells), came to London in June 2010. Her work Episode premiered at The Place in June 2011. She collaborated again with David Rosenberg on the large outdoor show, Motor Show in 2012. Lately she created and presented a site-specific dance piece, Things We Love, which responded to the readership of Richmond Library.

Jon Bausor (Designer) trained on the Motley Theatre Design course after studying Music as a choral scholar at Oxford University. He was the set designer for the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony. Theatre credits include Silence (RSC, Filter), The Homecoming (RSC), Lord of The Flies (Regents Park) KURSK (Sound & Fury/Fuel/Young Vic; Evening Standard Best Design nomination), and James and the Giant Peach (Octagon, Bolton, Manchester Evening News Awards Best Design nomination). Design credits for opera include The Knot Garden (Theatre an der Wien, Vienna) and The Human Comedy (Opera Group/Young Vic). Design credits for dance include Blood Wedding (Finnish National Ballet), Pleasure's Progress, Ghosts, Before the Tempest (ROH), A Tale of Two Cities (Northern Ballet Theatre) and Scribblings (Rambert).

Dave Price (Music and Sound) is an Associate Artist, composer and performer with the award-winning physical theatre company, Gecko. He has collaborated regularly with pop group Aqualung and is a founder member of Noszferatu, an experimental contemporary classical music collective. The latter has featured in the 2010 London Jazz Festival, on BBC Radio 3's In Tune and at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Dave also works extensively with acclaimed singer/songwriter Gwyneth Herbert and is a member of Chavo, a Balkan and Gypsy string band. Dave's compositional approach draws on his extensive performing background and knowledge of non-western music traditions. He combines classical training with experimental flair, embracing technology and modern studio technique. In 2007, he toured the UK with English folk big band Bellowhead and performed in George Piper Dances' Encore at Sadler's Wells. He participated in Toshio Hosokawa's 2002 opera Visions of Lear at the Linbury Studio Theatre and from 1990-1993 he was a percussionist with the Black Dyke Mills Band. In 1999, Dave received a postgraduate diploma from the Chopin Academy, Warsaw, where he studied contemporary classical percussion on a three-year scholarship with the acclaimed soloist Stanislaw Skoczynski. Following this, he studied with the leading exponents of French percussion music Trio le Cercle, Les Percussions du Strasbourg and Ensemble Intercontemporain. He has since participated in a wide variety of workshops and masterclasses studying traditional music from numerous diverse cultures. Theatre Includes: From Morning To Midnight (2013) The National Theatre, Troilus and Cressida (2102) RSC/Wooster Group, Missing (2012/3) Gecko Theatre.

Founded in 2004 and led by Louise Blackwell and Kate McGrath, FUEL is a producing organization working in partnership with some of the most exciting artists in the UK to develop, create and present new work for all. Fuel is celebrating its tenth birthday this year with a season of work featuring artists including Glen Neath and David Rosenberg, Uninvited Guests, Inua Ellams, Clod Ensemble, Fevered Sleep, Will Adamsdale and Melanie Wilson. The company is responsible for a range of creative partnerships and projects which have earned it an international reputation for innovation and excellence.

THE ROOF has been commissioned by LIFT. LIFT is a festival of international theatre and performance that connects the World with London and London with the World. LIFT turns the city into a stage on which artists with radical imaginations conjure visions of other lands, enthralling us with stories born in the worlds from which they come. Extraordinary global stories and intense visual and personal experiences come from dynamic new international voices, linking Londoners with artists around the world in events and productions that take place across the breadth of the city. From 2 to 29 June 2014. liftfestival.com #LIFT2014

THE ROOF is presented in association with the National Theatre, nationaltheatre.org.uk.

Photo Credit: Forest Woodward/Getty Images

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