Behind the Scenes: Charlotte Spencer, choreographer and artistic director

We caught up with Charlotte Spencer to discover more about the world premiere of her new Brighton Festival Commission, Written in the Body. 

“As we slowly emerge from a long period of social separation and distance, it feels timely and urgent to find evocative ways to come together again.”

Tell us more about Written in the Body?

Written In The Body is a dance duet about memory, touch, and consent. It’s a sometimes joyful, sometimes confrontational experience as we go on a journey with the performers. Having previously focused on making performances outdoors and in unusual spaces, this is my first theatrical work in more than a decade and marks a new chapter in my artistic output.
 

Where did the inspiration for Written in the Body come from?

New curiosities about intimacy and the relationship between performance and audience emerged while making my last show, Is this a Waste Land? Additional inspiration came from the experience of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood; noticing the lack of touch more widely in my life (pre- Covid!); and reflecting on the impact of the #MeToo movement.

How would you describe the show in three words?

Sense, memory, touch (what it is); plus vital, evocative, reconnection (what we hope it will feel like).
 

What do you hope people will take away from Written in the Body?

I hope that they will feel more alive in their bodies, and more connected to their bodies, stories, and memories of their own tactile encounters. I hope they will feel nourished and hopeful about our intrinsic need for touch and contact.

Are you looking forward to Brighton Festival 2022?

It is an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be commissioned by Brighton Festival for this year’s festival - the city’s cultural highlight of the year. I have lived in and around Brighton for over a decade, and this marks the first time that I will be making as well as presenting my work here - a rare treat and an opportunity to embed my artistic practice in the creative community where I live. As we slowly emerge from a long period of social separation and distance, it feels timely and urgent to find evocative ways to come together again.
 

Anything else Brighton Festival audiences need to know…?

From the outset, we have been thinking a lot about the accessibility of this work. One performance will be audio described, with a touch tour of the theatre available before the show. We are working closely with an audio describer to integrate this aspect into the performance as seamlessly as possible. Touch is such an essential sense for blind and visually impaired people, that it felt really important to make Written in the Body accessible for this audience group. One performance will be BSL interpreted and both are relaxed.

Written in the Body 24–25 May 2022, book here