The company, which emerged out of a drama course at the University of Sussex, was formed in 1998, under the direction of Sylvia Vickers. Previous performances made in conventional theatre spaces include: a version of Medea (Euripedes) at ACT Studio, Brighton (July, 1998), a piece based on Phaedre (Racine), at the Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton.

Since 1999 WIRED THEATRE has been working in non-theatrical spaces in order to challenge the accepted actor/audience relationship. The primary aim is to demonstrate that today, theatrical performance cannot always signify traditional coherence of character or narrative structure. Making performance in an alternative space - a house, café or garden - inevitably disrupts familiar images. And within this “unstable media of exchange” the director and performers are experimenting with their own responses to the space, aiming to produce diverting images which might offer novel perspectives, different ways of thinking and seeing.

The juxtaposition between tragedy and comedy is a constant preoccupation with the director and working towards the extremities of taste and acceptability frames the devising process.

The performances so far have confronted issues around individuals who seem to be trapped in roles constructed by others and their attempts to escape or transform themselves. A struggle for power inevitably dominates and liberty is not necessarily the hopeful outcome. But all the characters that people the performances love to sing, dance and play games.

© Wired Theatre 2006