"What most marks out the work of DV8 from pieces by other groups is the clarity of our message. Our aim is to portray how people interact with one another. That is more important to me than patterns ans spatial structures".
Llyod Newson

In Strange fish, filmed in 1992, the thoughts of the protagonists revolve around a desire to escape loneliness. Nigel Charnock delivers one of his feverish manic monologues and suceeds only in alienating the couples present, thus distancing himself from what he most desires : "it's nice if you can find somebody special, somebody who is special in your life (...) because there is no need to be alone"

Source : Arthaus Musik booklet

Lloyd Newson's work since 1986 as the Director of DV8 Physical Theatre has had a dynamic impact on contemporary dance and theatre.

His stage and film work with DV8 has consistently received major awards. His recent film, "The Cost of Living", won a Prix Italia and a Rose D'or.

Born in Australia, Newson's interest in dance arose while studying psychology and social work at Melbourne University, a fascination that led to a full scholarship at London Contemporary Dance School.

He danced and/or choreographed with many companies — including Modern Dance Ensemble, Impulse Dance Theatre/New Zealand Ballet Company, One Extra Dance Theatre and Extemporary Dance Theatre — before forming his own company.

From the beginning Newson believed that his work, because of its narrative underpinnings, would translate well onto film. Consequently filmmakers David Hinton and Clara von Gool translated three of DV8's stage works into film with Newson directing DV8's last film, "The Cost of Living" (2004/05), himself. This work has subsequently won 17 international awards.

Straddling dance, text, theatre and film, Newson work's refuses to be defined. He is interested in conceiving original work rather than performing existing plays or reinterpreting classical ballets. More recently he has started exploring verbatim theatre, looking at the relationship between text (drawn from interviews) and movement. Whilst this is not his first foray into verbatim theatre ("MSM" 1993), his most recent two works, "To Be Straight With You" (2008/2009) and "Can We Talk About This" (2011/2012) are more text-based than any other work he has created.

Source: DV8 Physical Theatre 's website

More information: dv8.co.uk

David Hinton is a director and producer, known for The South Bank Show (1978), Nora (2008) and Strange Fish (1993).

Artistic direction: Lloyd Newson

Creation: 1986

Since DV8 Physical Theatre’s inception in 1986 Lloyd Newson has led the company, directing and conceiving all its productions (apart from My Sex Our Dance, which was co-devised with Nigel Charnock). DV8’s work reflects Newson’s personal interests in social, psychological and political issues. He has largely rejected the abstraction that permeates most contemporary dance in preference for conceptual and/or narratively driven work.

In 1985 Newson left Extemporary Dance Theatre to pursue his own choreographic interests more fully and approached dancer, Michelle Richecoeur, to work on Bein’ Apart; « Lonely Art », a commission from Dance Umbrella (UK). The following year Newson invited Nigel Charnock to work with him on « My Sex »; « Our Dance » (1986). That year DV8 Physical Theatre was officially formed. In 1987 Wendy Houstoun came to a DV8 workshop and began performing with the company shortly thereafter. Both Nigel and Wendy were principal performers with the company until 1992 when they left to pursue their own choreographic/directing voices. Since then, Wendy Houstoun has guested with the company in « Bound to Please » (1997), « Living Costs » (Tate Modern - 2003) and been involved in an editorial capacity for « To Be Straight With You » (2008).

As Newson’s work is content-based, he casts according to subject matter and performers’ suitability for each new project. Consequently DV8 has no permanent company of performers. Over the years many people have contributed towards the success of DV8 - many extraordinary performers, a succession of administrative and technical teams and the company’s board of directors.

Source: DV8 Physical Theatre 's website

More information : dv8.co.uk