THE fast rising Gracefool Collective bring their satirical and slickly choreographed theatre to Northern Stage

IN a year when #metoo, gender pay inequality and the feminist agenda has rarely been out of the headlines, 2018 is an especially appropriate time for Gracefool Collective to tour their powerfully satirical Edinburgh hit This Really Is Too Much, and the tour opens at Newcastle’s Northern Stage on Wednesday 26 September.

Raucous, provocative and laugh-out-loud funny, the four-piece have created a genre-busting show that reveals the downright absurd realities of life as a three-dimensional, high definition, water-drinking, salad-eating, moisturising W.O.M.A.N. in modern society.

After 100 years of women’s suffrage in Britain how far have we really come in that time?

This Really Is Too Much is an outlandish, thought-provoking and wildly entertaining medley of absurd political speeches, talent contests, job interviews and box ticking. The four performers, Kate Cox, Sofia Edstrand, Rachel Fullegar and Rebecca Holmberg, fight themselves, each other and society’s expectations for women to be individual, political, beautiful, popular and in control – and in their place.

"Laughing at systems of power or oppression in order to undermine the power they hold over us is one of the strongest forms of protest," says Rachel.

Kate says: "Our aim is not to point fingers, but to shine light on some of the ridiculous scenarios we observe in real life..."

"... and to challenge how easily we accept these,’ concluded Rebecca.

Gracefool Collective is a four woman strong company of theatre makers formed in 2013. They make post-intellectual-pseudo-spiritual-feminist-comedy-dance-theatre about the absurdities of modern existence. They aim to provoke, delight, and defy convention through irreverent physicality, sharp writing and arresting characters. Their work tackles serious issues while never taking itself too seriously.

Sofia says: "This show is for anyone interested in dance, theatre, laughing, crying, feminism, gender, identity, smashing the system, ticking the boxes, beauty pageants, political speeches, salad, moisturiser, water, turtle necks, disco, Steely Dan and/or Barry White’.

More information about the Gracefool Collective at www.gacefoolcollective.com or see a short promotional video at https://vimeo.com/138058689

This Really is Too Much is supported through funding via Catapult (Llankelly Chase, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Spin Arts and Yorkshire Dance), Northern Connections (Northern School of Contemporary Dance), CARP (Barnsley Civic), Dragon's Den (OneDanceUK) and Activate Performing Arts. Listings information follows.

  • This Really is too Much, Northern Stage, Barras Bridge, Newcastle, Wednesday, September 26, 8pm. Tickets are £10 from 0191 230 5151 or www.northernstage.co.uk