THE PICNIC Comes to Lilian Baylis Studio Next Month

A new full-length work by Eva Recacha, The Picnic will come to the Lilian Baylis Studio from Wednesday 27 – Friday 29 November. The Picnic is a celebration, a self-made feast of dreamlike nature; creating through movement, voice and the interaction with Kate Lane’s design, moments of collective recognition, freedom, togetherness, indulgence and joy.  

The work, born from Recacha’s vision and then co-created in dialogue with a cast of collaborators and performers, explores ideas of utopia inspired by the painting The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, which presents many human figures in a terrestrial paradise, indulging in worldly pleasures. In The Picnic, a large group of young humans perform in synergy, in a cooperative effort towards a world that can be liveable, free and pleasurable.  

The Picnic’s first creative explorations took place in March 2021 and coincided with the murder of Sarah Everard. This event and its subsequent emotional impact influenced greatly the initial texts that were made for the piece, giving voice to a shared rejection of misogyny that with time has evolved towards a more self-celebratory tone.  

The specially composed sound by Alberto Ruiz Soler, which incorporates the voices of the performers, situates The Picnic in a world fluctuating between a blissful dream and a hardcore rave, creating oneiric, at times harmonic, at times dystopian spaces that hold love, care, fear and anger. 

The Picnic is co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and South East Dance, with support from London Contemporary Dance School and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England. 

Speaking about The Picnic, Eva Recacha says simply: “I want it to be fun”. 

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