INDESTRUCTIBLE Will Première at Omnibus Theatre in January

Proteus has announced the full cast and creative team for Indestructible written and directed by the company's Artistic Director Mary Swan.

Mary Swan directs Danny Charles (Christian), Paul Huntley-Thomas (Robin) and Mary Rose (Catherine) in this highly visual production incorporating AI imagery, projections and original music into Proteus' distinctive physical style.

The full creative team includes Animation and Projection Design by Christopher Harrison, Set and Costume Design by Sam Pine, Lighting Design by Joe Hornsby, Dramaturg and Digital Artist Paula Varjack, and Dramaturg Saul Jaffe.

Indestructible will première at Omnibus Theatre on 18 January 2024 and will run until 3 February 2024, with previews from 16 January.

Artistic Director of Proteus Mary Swan said today, "Indestructible is by turns dryly funny and caustic about the machinations of what it means to be a female Artist, whilst also asking serious and vital questions about cancel culture and accountability.

"Taking photographer Lee Miller's identity as a Surrealist as inspiration, the show uses a myriad of visual theatrical styles and techniques. Multi-disciplinary Artist Christopher Harrison has created animations and AI-generated digital projections, at once unsettling and beautiful, to propel the action inside and outside the mind of our central character. It is a show we want the audience to discuss, and argue about, long after they have seen it." 

Dramaturg and Digital Artist: Paula Varjack; Dramaturg: Saul Jaffe; Animation and Projection Design: Christopher Harrison; Set and Costume Design: Sam Pine; Lighting Design: Joe Hornsby

Cast: Danny Charles (Christian); Paul Huntley-Thomas (Robin); Mary Rose (Catherine).

“I'm tired, I'm tired of trying to play the system, I'm tired of trying to fight the system and I'm tired of feeling tired about it.”  

Catherine Shaw spent the 90s shocking the art world with her provocative performance art. She's always called herself a feminist, but looking back through the lens of #MeToo, she's questioning how much she enabled the culture she now sees being called out.

 

An ambitious Curator approaches her to put together an exhibition of female Artists at a major new gallery; a scandal breaks and, unwittingly caught in the centre, she begins to question everything.   

 

When men behave in unacceptable ways, why do we always point to the women close to them and ask why they did nothing? Can we, and should we, separate the art from the artist? How far do the ripples of consequence spread? And why is it always women who must hold the moral space?  
 

Indestructible takes in uncompromising female Artists, from Lee Miller to the Guerrilla Girls via Sinead O'Connor and Taylor Swift, to ask: why is it still so difficult for female Artists to succeed? And why are women always the Muse, never the Artist?  

Biographies

Danny Charles plays Christian. Previous credits with Proteus include The Little Mermaid, The Arabian Nights, Macbeth, and A Christmas Carol (UK tours) and, as a writer, Talk to me. His theatre credits include Stripy Tales (Octagon Theatre Bolton), No Worries (Polka Theatre), Nervous Break-down (Croydon Warehouse), and Sleeping Beauty (Hoxton Hall).

 

Paul Huntley-Thomas plays Robin. Previous credits with Proteus include Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know, A Christmas Carol, More C*nt Than Can't, Rapunzel, M.I.A, The Secret Garden, and Frankenstein. His theatre credits include Table Manners, Wait Until Dark, The Morning After the Night Before, Sunkissed, Dial M for Murder (Sheringham Little Theatre), Entertaining Angels (New Perspectives Theatre Company), The Clearing (Forest Forge Theatre Company), The Firebird and Wuthering Heights (Oxford Touring Theatre Company), The Tractor Girls (Salisbury Playhouse), Around the World in 80 Days (Snap Theatre), Macbeth (Pukka Theatre Company), and As You Like It, Macbeth (Soho Group). His television credits include Lost Women Spies, Secret Invasion, Good Neighbours, Jim Morrison Biopic, I Am A Nazi, Premier League, The Definitive Guide to Hitler, 999 Killer on the Line, Omid Djalili Show, Mozart's Muse, The Sex Education Show, and Hero At 30,000 Feet; and for film Kunjaali Marakkar.

 

Mary Rose plays Catherine. Her previous work with Proteus Theatre company includes 12.10.15 (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, UK tour) Frankenstein, Dracula, Beauty and the Beast, and The Wedding Present (UK tours). Other theatre credits include Romeo and Juliet (Pilot Theatre), The Seagull (Royal Court Theatre, Walter Kerr Theatre), Bullet Shaped Heart (Greenwich Theatre), Kane (Theatre503), Thin Toes (Hampstead Theatre), The Cut (The Old Vic), Macbeth (New Wolsey Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Salisbury Playhouse), Fortune's Fool (Chichester Festival Theatre), and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (The Watermill Theatre). She also co-wrote and performed What About Samuel? (Brighton Festival, Arts Theatre London) with fellow cast member, Danny Charles.

 

Mary Swan writes and directs. She joined Proteus as Artistic Director in December 2004. Since then, she has developed the company's distinctive style for fusing physical performance, circus, puppetry and music. Her theatre credits as director for Proteus Theatre include The Secret Garden, Missing in Action, Dracula, Houdini, Frankenstein, Arabian Nights, Becoming Hattie, Macbeth, Merrick, The Bloody Chamber (UK tours),The Elephant Man (Shakespeare's Globe, 59E59 Theatre, Brits Off Broadway Festival), The Party (a co-production with Nearly There Yet Theatre, Southbank Centre) and The Bloody Chamber (Pavilion Theatre and National tour).

Paul Wild composes. He has written and performed music for Proteus shows for 10 years, including Frankenstein, Merrick, Below Zero, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Dracula, The Princess and the Pea, The Secret Garden, Poppy Wild's Magical Machine, Sophia and the Snail and Houdini (UK tours) and The Elephant Man (Shakespeare's Globe, 59E59 Theatre, Brits Off Broadway Festival). He has previously worked with Mary Swan on the soundtrack for shows at Solent People's Theatre and The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. 

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