Two children dressed as ghosts in a cloud of smoke in front of a white wall covered with sheets of paper with handwritten letters
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Theatre

Time Keeps the Drummer

Fevered Sleep
15 performances between Fri 8 - Sun 10 May 2026, various times
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Explore time from children's point of view in a five-hour durational performance for family and adult audiences

Time Keeps the Drummer brings together 12 local children and a single adult percussionist in a performance that explores time from a child's perspective: time as play, experimentation and repetition. The audience, both children and adults alike, are invited to slow down, linger and rest, coming and going throughout to engage with the performance on their own terms. 

Each live-directed performance unfolds as a unique and unrepeatable experience, shifting between theatre and live gallery installation through improvised movement, text, projection, music and lighting. The percussionist plays a motion-capture drum kit to create a continuous beat of clock time, which the audience can hear through headphones before setting them aside to enter the world of children's time. 

‘This is special… Fevered Sleep lets young people speak their mind… a raw, compelling performance’  The Stage, about We Are Not Finished, 2021

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Members Priority Booking: 9am, Thu 19 Feb
Tickets on General Sale: 10am, Thu 26 Feb

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Watch the Trailer

A young girl reaches her arm up to the ceiling. A man is sat in the wall behind her in a fluorescent frame playing a drum
A young girl sits in darkness lit by a fluorescent frame playing a motion capture drum with a digital countdown above her
A child dances vigorously on the left, another stands on the right at a table, and another stands in the background beside a metal stair ladder
A wide shot of the stage set shows a child lying on their back with arms outstretched to the ceiling. There's a table on the right and camera equipment to the left
The camera points from the side of the audience, showing everyone wearing headphones that are lit up blue. The audience look towards the stage intently
A wide shot of the white staging shows various children on stage, including two dressed as ghosts in the centre. There is a man sat in darkness in the wall at the back of the stage
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Production Images

A young girl reaches her arm up to the ceiling. A man is sat in the wall behind her in a fluorescent frame playing a drum
A young girl sits in darkness lit by a fluorescent frame playing a motion capture drum with a digital countdown above her
A child dances vigorously on the left, another stands on the right at a table, and another stands in the background beside a metal stair ladder
A wide shot of the stage set shows a child lying on their back with arms outstretched to the ceiling. There's a table on the right and camera equipment to the left
The camera points from the side of the audience, showing everyone wearing headphones that are lit up blue. The audience look towards the stage intently
A wide shot of the white staging shows various children on stage, including two dressed as ghosts in the centre. There is a man sat in darkness in the wall at the back of the stage

Commissioned & Co-Produced by WestK.

Co-commissioned and presented by The Place, FABRIC and Brighton Festival.

Thanks to Yorkshire Dance and ArtsDepot for supporting R&D.

Funded by Arts Council England & Royal Central School of Speech & Drama.

*There is a £3.50 per order charge for all phone and online bookings (not applicable to Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival members)

**Stage timings are subject to change

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