Two performers have a difficult story to tell. They come on stage and launch themselves into an hour long attempt to put into words the utterly unspeakable.
Delivered in English and Bulgarian, with pounding gypsy-inspired music, this beautiful performance fills an empty space with two performers, hundreds of fresh flowers and a storm of emotion. A performance piece that packs a punch – transforming your very sense of what it is to be a mother, a father, a child. And you’ll leave more fully alive than ever.
Devised and Performed by Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie
Dramaturgy – Charlotte Vincent
Additional Direction – Charlotte Vincent
Performance company Two Destination Language have worked for the first time with acclaimed choreographer Charlotte Vincent (Vincent Dance Theatre) as their dramaturg on this work.
Near Gone is the winner of a Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form (2014) and the Pulse Fringe Suitcase Prize (2013)
Near Gone is a Colchester Arts Centre commission, supported by Arts Council England and The Point, Eastleigh.
Two Destination Language is the collaborative performance practice of Katherina Radeva and Alister Lownie.
Photo: Alma Haser
Two Destination Language’s Near Gone with audience feedback from Alister Lownie on Vimeo.
Reviews
***** “Radeva and Lownie’s harrowing story is told with great beauty, sensitivity and humour, creating art that is truly affecting, memorable and life-affirming.”
-- BroadwayBaby
“Near Gone is a near-perfect show. Wonderful performances by both actors. A beautifully crafted story told expertly through many means and forms – verbal, visual, physical. Spot-on dramaturgy (choreographer Charlotte Vincent name-checked here). A lovely sound design by Tim Blazdell.”
-- Total Theatre Magazine
“The precise and subtle performances from both Radeva and Lownie are as fascinating as they are compelling. ****”
-- TVbomb
**** “a brilliantly captured performance”
-- Edinburgh Evening News
**** “beyond the limits of mere language.”
-- The Scotsman
“Thoughtful and understated – with an unexpectedly hopeful conclusion – this is well worth an hour of your fringe time. ****”
-- The Skinny
“a moving performance with the language-crossing power of a ritual […] this intensely personal performance crafts a bridge of floral delicacy. ****”
-- Fest Mag
10/10 “This isn’t just one of the best shows I’ve seen in 25 years of visiting the Fringe. It’s one of the most powerful and moving pieces of theatre I’ve ever seen.” –
“a winning heartfelt intensity”
“A boon to the flower trade and to audiences too with its passionate, dance-filled look at the gulfs we cannot bridge.”
-- DarkChat
“a brave show that confronts how we can sometimes become locked in grief, and unreachable even to those who love us most, and which uses many different kinds of language to explore the emotional gulfs between us, and the ways we can reach out and connect.”
-- Lyn Gardner, The Guardian at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014
