
Can We Talk About This?
‘Dance’s inspired outsider’ (Daily Telegraph) and his award-winning company return with a powerful and political new physical theatre work.
From the 1989 book burnings of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses to the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, Can We Talk About This? examines how certain pivotal events have reflected and influenced multicultural policies, freedom of speech and censorship.
The follow-up to the critically acclaimed To Be Straight With You, this documentary-style dance-theatre production draws on archive footage and real-life interviews with leading figures across the religious, political and cultural spectrum. In an ever more polarized political landscape, it invites us to engage with the taboo topics of our age and challenge the bounds of what we can and cannot say.
Since its inception in 1986, Lloyd Newson’s DV8 has toured the world with a series of highly acclaimed dance pieces, each exploring pressing social, psychological and political issues. Previous shows include: The Cost of Living (2003), Just for Show (2005) and To Be Straight with You (2008).
See also the ‘Index on Censorship’ talk (Books and Debates) which directly responds to the themes of this performance.
Co-produced by Théâtre de la Ville and Festival d’Automne, Paris, National Theatre, and Dansens Hus Stockholm.