The Collective to Present EGO at Camden Fringe 2017

The Collective present Ego as part of the Camden Fringe 2017 at The Lion and Unicorn (42-44 Gaisford Street, NW5 2ED), running August 16-18 2017, 18:30 (duration: 1h).Tickets: £10 (concession: £7). Directed by Alexandra Andrei. Devised and performed by The Collective.

Equality 7-2521 lives in a world where the candle was invented 100 years ago, where calling someone your friend is a great Transgression of Preference, where men may not think of or speak to women except at the Time of Mating. There is no such thing as the word 'I'.

'We are one in all and all in one. There are no men but only the great WE, one, indivisible and forever. We all know the things which exist and therefore the things which are not known by all do not exist. We matter not and it must not matter to us whether we live or die, which is to be as our brothers will it.'

What happens to a man's insatiable thirst for knowledge when the human race has suppressed it to dust?

The first production from The Collective, this devised piece is inspired by Ayn Rand's short novel Anthem, a story about identity and individualism. Equality 7-2521 has a trait that is dangerous in this world, curiosity. He wants to know where the sun goes at night, why the earth is flat, how an egg turns into a chicken, and most of all, what happened to the old world. He knows it is outlawed to question something like that, yet he can't help but stumble upon a piece of it one day. The next morning, there is one empty bed amongst ninety-nine others in the House of the Street Sweepers. Can you imagine a world without I? Welcome to Anthem.

His journey is presented in a combination of physical and naturalistic theatre, relying on theatrical conventions to play with time and space. A lot of the action on stage is shown, rather than talked about. This original style of theatre also has influences from other cultures and non-western forms that the company has become familiar with in their current studies.

The Collective is an emerging theatre company comprised of East 15 students at various times in their training. The inception of the company came as a result of the production of a shorter version of Ego for a devising festival in February, under the direction of Alexandra Andrei (studying BA World Performance). Following encouraging feedback, they decided to expand and develop the story they created closely together. The varied and multicultural theatre traditions and techniques they study on a daily basis ensures a fresh and original take on devised theatre.

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