Lay Down Your Burdens at Norwich Theatre Royal

Olivier Award nominated, radically tender dance theatre show that invites you into the pub to explore the beauty of humanity set for UK tour following Barbican premiere

Choreographer and theatre maker Rhiannon Faith would like to invite you to step into an evening at the local pub, but a night at the local like no other. Here you can explore the beauty of humanity and the eternal need for community and compassion, take the weight off and help each other lighten the load and restore our weary souls.

Titled Lay Down Your Burdens, the show is set in a friendly and welcoming British working class pub, hosted by charismatic landlady Sara who welcomes the same regulars each night, listening to their stories and woes. Until, one day, a stranger with an excess of baggage gets blown in from the cold…

Following a week long world premiere at London’s Barbican last year (which saw it nominated for the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance) the show tours to Harlow, Norwich, Chester, Bradford, Barnsley and Coventry March – May 2025. The Reviews Hub described it as ‘Bold and exciting … a powerful and deeply thought-provoking show like no other '

Featuring a cast of 6 dancer/performers and 2 musicians, the show is set with the audience on three sides as guests in the pub. We meet the regulars and hear their stories as they arrive and take their usual seats. In this convivial setting the guests (audience) are encouraged to join the conversations that go round the bar. With radical tenderness, humour and intoxicating behaviour we can experience joy and togetherness.

Originally inspired by the Bob Dylan song Lay Down Your Weary Tune, music is a key element of the work. The pub setting features an original score by John Victor (of London band Gengahr) alongside live original music played by ceilidh duo Ólta Duo.  As the audience joins in with the conversation through unstructured tasks and supported testimonials their voices are recorded and edited live to create a collective weary tune, bespoke to each performance and played as the final moment of the show.

It’s an evocative recreation of the pub as a centrepoint of British working class culture, drawing on Rhiannon’s own family roots for inspiration. There’s dubious karaoke and riotous pub games as the hyper-real pub meets a visceral dance theatre world drawing together those who have been estranged or never even dreamed they were connected.

Rhiannon  Faith explained to Broadway World ‘Lay Down Your Burdens invites us to share what we are carrying. It’s a space where we are listened to and where our worries and troubles are held - and in return there’s music, poetry and dance. But mostly, in the theatre, in our pub, we see one another and for a brief moment we are all connected. Current world events can feel overwhelming, so it seems vital for us to come together to share the weight of our troubles knowing that we are not alone.’

Lay Down Your Burdens was grown out of conversations with communities and developed from the lived experiences of company members. It was developed in phases of research and development with communities around the country where people talked about their burdens. The show shines a light on individual suffering and discusses personal grief and serious illness. The company worked with psychologist Joy Griffiths to develop responses to burdens that are caring, creative and therapeutic. Suitable for over 16s, it contains strong language and scenes that some may find upsetting.

The six intergenerational performers are Shelley Eva Haden, Donald Hutera, Dominic Coffey, Sam Ford, Sara Turner, Finetta Sidgwick and two musicians, (India Merrett, fiddle and Paul Higham, guitar).

At each venue there is a workshop with the cast the day before that is free to ticketholders, giving people the opportunities to explore the themes of Lay Down Your Burdens and our need for community and compassion.

Visit www.rhiannonfaith.com for more information.

Tour details:

Lay Down Your Burdens

Radical and proudly socially conscious dance/theatre from Rhiannon Faith Company. Featuring live music and set in a friendly and welcoming pub where we are invited to join the regulars, shed our baggage and weariness and collectively lighten the load.

Age 16+. Contains adult language and and explores themes of grief, serious illness and personal suffering.

120 minutes (including interval).

Harlow Playhouse, Playhouse Square, Harlow, Essex CM20 1LS

Friday 7 March 7.30pm. Saturday 8 March matinee 2.30pm PWYC £2/£5/£10  01279 431945 www.harlowplayhouse.co.uk

Norwich Theatre Royal Theatre St Norwich NR2 1RL

Friday 28 & Saturday 29 March 7.30pm £20 01603 630000 www.norwichtheatre.org

Chester StoryHouse, Hunter St, Chester CH1 2AR

Tuesday 1 April & Wednesday 2 April 7.30pm 01244 409113 www.storyhouse.com

Bradford 2025 City of Culture (Beacon) Wibsey Park, BD6 3QL

Tuesday 29 & Wednesday 30 April, 7pm, £10, 01274 053100, www.bradford2025.co.uk

Barnsley Civic, Eldon St, Barnsley, S70 2JL

Friday 2 & Saturday 3 May, 7:30pm, £13.50/£7 01226 327000 www.barnsleycivic.co.uk

Coventry Warwick Arts Centre, University Of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL

Wednesday 14 May 7:30pm, £24/£19 024 7649 6000 www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

Lay Down Your Burdens  is co-commissioned by Barbican, London and Harlow Playhouse. With support from Oxford Playhouse, Déda and South East Dance. Funded using public money from Arts Council England. With thanks to Restoke and the Lay Down Your Burdens Creative Friends. It is a dance theatre performance project grown out of conversations with communities that was originally inspired by Bob Dylan’s 1963 song Lay Down Your Weary Tune

Rhiannon Faith Company makes radically tender dance theatre, working nationally on big stages and locally with communities on the margins, always with social change and care at its heart. Based in Harlow, Essex, with nation-wide impact, they are making bold, ambitious moves to secure a future as global leaders in original dance theatre with a social purpose, to champion community transformation and authentic belonging for all.

The Company has been nominated for five National Dance Awards; ‘Best Independent Company’ 2021, 2022, 2023, ‘Best Digital Choreography’ 2021 (DROWNTOWN LOCKDOWN), ‘Best Dance Film’ 2022 (DROWNTOWN live film). In addition Rhiannon Faith was nominated for an AWA Women In Dance Leadership Award 2022 and in 2024 Lay Down Your Burdens was nominated for an Olivier Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Dance’ and shortlisted for a One Dance UK Award for Innovation in Dance.. The company is Associate Artist at Harlow Playhouse, and an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.