Big time choreographer Hofesh Shechter will be directing the Brighton Festival 2014.
He really likes London-by-the-sea, and reckons Brighton has a magic to it that no one can explain. “Brighton has a magic to it that no one can explain” he said, and continuing in that vein “we’ve enjoyed the buzz, the lightness, energy, and the unexplainable essence of Brighton. … I feel a rush of excitement about the ideas I can contribute … well, delighted, is just a boring word.”
Shechter’s eponymous company has been a Resident Company of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival since 2008. In 2009 they debuted The Art of Not Looking Back, in 2010 Political Mother, while in 2013 Brighton Festival commissioned Nomad Land. This year they will be presenting a co-commission Sun, the UK premiere of which takes places at Sadler’s Wells in October.
Here is the video trailer of Sun which is nice, and reminds us of that time Terrence Malick nearly directed a BUPA ad.
The first Brighton Festival in 1967 included the first ever exhibition of Concrete Poetry in the UK, alongside performances by Lawrence Olivier, Anthony Hopkins and Yehudi Menuhin. In recent years guest directorships have been handed to Anish Kapoor, Brian Eno, Aung San Suu Kyi, Vanessa Redgrave, and Michael Rosen.
The full programme will be announced this February, and we’ll let you know about that.
