A Timeline of Volcano
2018
Paul Davies is awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Open University for Services to the Arts, and leads masterclasses at Territory Festival, Moscow.
2017
THE LEITH VOLCANO
THE LEITH VOLCANO Our most ambitious Edinburgh Fringe venture to date – creating a landmark independent venue in a disused church in Leith. Presenting Volcano’s SEAGULLS at the centre of a programme of top-flight theatre, dance and music.
2015-17
SEAGULLS
Volcano’s ambitiously-staged Chekhov adaptation SEAGULLS appeared in Swansea and Taipei and sold out for three weeks at the Edinburgh Fringe. *British Council Edinburgh Showcase.
2016
Volcano begins running regular classes for children under 15.
2015
- Volcano and Coastal awarded £200K under ACW’s Ideas People Places scheme to run a three-year programme of events and activities to creatively investigate possibilities for change in Swansea High Street and its communities.
- Volcano and Coastal awarded £200K under ACW’s Ideas People Places scheme to run a three-year programme of events and activities to creatively investigate possibilities for change in Swansea High Street and its communities.
- Volcano Youth Company is formed.
- Volcano moves into the large former Iceland freezer store in Swansea High Street
- A&B Arts, Business & the Environment award (with Coastal Housing).
2014-16
BLACK STUFF
Original site-specific performance in Swansea, Cardiff and Leith. “Irresistible black seam of Welsh energy shovelled into audiences’ jaw-dropped gobs by anarchic sons+daughters of Thatchers ghost.” Ed Robson
2014-15
147 QUESTIONS ABOUT LOVE
A ‘question-and-dancer’ show in a cupboard, based on Padgett Powell’s The Interrogative Mood. Appeared at Dance Base in the Edinburgh Fringe.
2013
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
Five Alices and 84 bales on hay on tour in an unsentimental version of Carroll’s classic.
2013
L.O.V.E.
Volcano revives its highly-charged and athletic classic that helped define the term ‘physical theatre’.
2013
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
A month of performance, history and celebration to mark 25 years of Volcano. We ransacked our archive to bring you an interactive, retrospective adventure and commissioned five brand new performances from key Volcano collaborators.
2012
THE EMERGENCE SUMMIT A major international arts and sustainability event created in partnership with the Centre for Alternative Technology.
2011-12
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
‘Five horrorshow actors crunch into Burgess’s invented language’ The Sunday Times. Two UK tours and a run at Arcola Theatre.
2010
Fern Smith establishes EMERGENCE, an artist network and initiative addressing the challenge of living well on a finite planet.
2009-10
1970
Love, politics, music and Apocalypse Now. UK tour and a site-specific performance in Swansea High Street.
2010
SHELF LIFE
A collaboration with the new National Theatre of Wales and WNO, performed in the old Swansea library.
2008-9
I-WITNESS
Inspired by WG Sebald’s extraordinary Rings of Saturn. Two UK tours. *British Council Edinburgh Showcase.
2008-10
UNKOWN PLEASURES
A series of three experimental performances created by Swansea Institute students and professionals. Directed by Marc Rees, Mr & Mrs Clark and Simon Harris.
2008
WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
In which we bus an audience to a mysterious location in Wales and subject them to absurd and arbitrary rules.
2007-8
A FEW LITTLE DROPS
A FEW LITTLE DROPS Seven actors explore the world’s most precious substance. Performed in a vast and specially designed outdoor set in Wales, Scotland and Vancouver. *Fringe Sell-out Show
2005-6
HITTING FUNNY
A one-man show by Philip Ralph, about a stand-up comic on the edge. Two UK tours.*British Council Edinburgh Showcase. *Nominated for The Stage Award for Acting Excellence.
2004-5
ROMEO & JULIET
Shakespeare’s timeworn classic, revitalised for the reality-TV generation. Two UK tours.
2003
L.O.V.E.
Original cast revival tour to Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan with British Council support. ‘I think about seeing the positive reaction to L.O.V.E. in Baku, watching this group of mainly young people leave the theatre, having seen something utterly new and ground-breaking on stage – and forever associating it with Britain.’ Financial Times.
2003-4
THIS IMAGINARY WOMAN
A modern requiem. Written and performed by Fern Smith and Patrick Fitzgerald. In partnership with BAC. Toured UK, Ireland, Edinburgh Fringe and Malta.“If you’ve ever felt the bitter bite of loss, this can’t fail to move you.” NME
2003-4
TALKSEXSHOW
A new performance about our contemporary passion for self-discovery.UK Tour, Edinburgh Fringe and Studiobuhne Köln.
2001-3
PRIVATE LIVES
Stripped of its customary glamour and set in a crumbling asylum. Toured Wales, Lithuania, Romania, Hungary, Germany and Malta. *British Council Edinburgh Showcase.
1999-2000
MOMENTS OF MADNESS
A state-of-the-Welsh-nation absurdist piece, taking its cue from Ron Davies’ excursion on Clapham Common. Tour included The Tron, BAC and Dublin Fringe.
1999-2000
MACBETH – DIRECTOR’S CUT
Directed by Nigel Charnock. Toured UK including South Bank Centre and Edinburgh Fringe, and Ireland, Greece, Spain, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and the New European Theatre Festival in Moscow. *British Council Edinburgh Showcase.
1999
REVOLUTION
A festival of performances, lectures and masterclasses for actors in Swansea, featuring Volcano and other leading contemporary theatre practitioners including Ken Campbell, Liz Lochhead, Alan Lyddiard, Jenny Sealey and Max Stafford-Clark.
1998
TIME OF MY LIFE
Alan Ayckbourn, vulcanized. *Winner of a Barclays Stage Partners Award. Toured Wales + Brewhouse, Taunton.
1997-2000
THE TOWN THAT WENT MAD
A bastard Welsh lyric. They closed down our Under Milk Wood… so we wrote another. UK, Edinburgh Fringe, Munich, Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Albania and Kosova and Homo Novus festival, Riga.
1996
VAGINA DENTATA
Three women and a male corpse in a deadly deepthroat psycho-drama by Paul Davies. Wales, England (including Riverside Studios) and Spain.
1994-95
HOW TO LIVE (IBSENITIES)
A radical mashup of Ibsen’s later works. UK, Edinburgh Fringe, Hong Kong, France, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
1994/98
AFTER THE ORGY UK
Tour including South Bank Centre, and Stuttgart.
1993-94
MANIFESTO
Based on a very famous pamphlet. UK tour including Battersea Arts Centre.
1993
BBC Wales Arts Award
1992-93
L.O.V.E.
Based on Shakespeare’s Sonnets and directed by Nigel Charnock. Widely toured genre-defining physical theatre piece. Traverse, The Arches, Milan, Moscow, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Holland, Italy, Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Spain. *Time Out Theatre Award.
1991-92
MEDEA: SEXWAR
A ferocious take on Euripides by Tony Harrison. With Valerie Solanas’s SCUM Manifesto. UK Tour, Edinburgh Fringe, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Ancient Odeion of Patras, Denmark and Hong Kong.
1990-91
V
The show that set the post-punk benchmark for dangerous theatre. Based on Tony Harrison’s controversial poem. Edinburgh Fringe (Netherbow), UK and London.
1989-90
MAGBETH
Adapted from Marks & Gran/Guardian Comic Strip and Shakespeare to ‘celebrate’ a decade of Thatcherism. Made in Budva, former Yugoslavia.
1987
Volcano Theatre Company formed in Swansea, South Wales.
