I loved you and I loved you previews at The Place prior to national tour
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
MULTI-award winning choreographer Sally Marie presents I loved you and I loved you, an evocative balance of music, theatre and dance that depicts the richly romantic life of Morfydd Owen, one of Wales’ most distinguished classical composers.
The production previews at The Place in London on July 30 prior to a national tour that will visit The Artsdepot on October 8, 2015.
Choreographed by the 2014 winner of the The Choreography for Children Award (Sadler’s Wells, Company of Angels and The Place in partnership with MOKO Dance) and developed in conjunction with National Theatre Wales and Coreo Cymru, this dance theatre work reflects upon the life of celebrated 20th century composer Morfydd Owen, who was friends with the likes of DH Lawrence and Ezra Pound and whose husband was Freud’s closest associate.
It is accompanied almost entirely by a live score of the composer’s own works.
Born in the Welsh valleys in 1891, Morfydd Owen’s talent for music flourished from an early age, with her first hymns published while she was still a teenager. Amongst the awards, scholarships and acclaim was a woman fiercely loyal to Welsh music and yet famed for her beauty and sense of fun. In her few short years she won more awards than anyone in the entire history of the Royal Academy of Music.
I loved you and I loved you follows the composer’s story from humble beginnings to her meteoric rise as a composer while touching upon the turbulent relationships that marked much of her early twenties, telling her unique and compelling life story through to her early death at the age of just 26. Considered one of Wales’s most talented musicians and composers, she is little known outside of Wales and there are relatively few recordings of her work.
Sally Marie said: “It’s a totally fascinating story. And a true one. And due to our extensive research we have uncovered new truths not in any other biography in print. We’ve even discovered, a new previously undiscovered piece of her music. Morfydd is a true unsung Welsh heroine. And it’s almost 100 years since she died in the most mysterious of circumstances.
“The piece began as a duet but became a trio when we unearthed letters only released in 2012 that expose the depth of feeling she had for her best friend, Elliot Crawshay-Williams who was parliamentary secretary to Winston Churchill.
“Her music is beautiful. Anyone could love it. And yet dying so young in 1918, meant that not only was this huge talent not properly fulfilled, but she also missed the revolution and revelation of 20th century music. Here is where the tragedy lies for me. Artistically, I am interested to find the best way to tell this incredible story and to explore a greater intimacy in the relationships on stage in terms of dance. So that what we are watching feels as real as watching a film.”
Sally Marie is an award-winning performer and choreographer, who trained at the Central School of Ballet. She has worked extensively with Protein Dance and Sean Tuan John, as well as Jasmin Vardimon, Tilted Productions, Duckie at the Barbican, H2, Lulu’s Living Room, Rajni Shah, Deja Donne in Italy, Frauke Requart, IJAD, Geoff Moore, Gary Stevens, and Ridiculusmus. She has twice been voted Best Female Performer by Dance Europe, as well as nominated for a Spotlight Award 2008 and Best Female Performer in the National Dance Awards, 2009 and 2011.
She was also awarded the New Adventures Choreography Award 2013 and The Children’s Choreography Award 2014, which was a Sadler’s Wells/Place commission in collaboration with MOKO Dance and Company of Angels. She is the artistic director of Sweetshop Revolution. Her credits outside the company include Nerve (Barons Court Theatre), Graeae’s Reasons to be Cheerful (Theatre Royal Stratford East) and The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland (Ridiculusmus, touring).
The dancers are Karl Fargerlund-Brekke, Faith Prendergast and Dan Whiley and the singer is Ellen Williams.
I loved you and I loved you is suitable for ages 12+.
Running time: 70 minutes.
The tour will visit Gwynedd, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Hereford, Great Torrington, Devon, Swansea, Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Leeds, Salford, The Artsdepot, London, Caernarfon, Lincoln, Ormskirk, Liverpool, Cardiff and Ipswich.