If All Else Fails at Lancaster Arts

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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If All Else Fails

Lancaster Arts, Lancaster
21 November 2023

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

If All Else Fails at Lancaster Arts
Image courtesy of Hugo Glendinning.
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Lancaster Arts welcome back Forced Entertainment with If All Else Fails, a comical and complex new collaborative work investigating how we deal with failure.

Performed by dancer, maker and choreographer, Seke Chimutengwende and Cathy Naden, one of the founding members of Forced Entertainment, If All Else Fails brings the two performers together on stage to engage in an unfathomable test. Perplexing and original, the performance is built upon a dialogue of speech and movement, questions and answers. Stitching together a series of short conversational exchanges, the piece resembles fragments of a language lesson or questions in a personality quiz. With laughing and hesitancy, the test seems to shift and change as the performers work their way through it.

If All Else Fails at Lancaster Arts
Image courtesy of Hugo Glendinning.

Directed by Tim Etchells with dramaturgy by Tyrone Huggins, If All Else Fails draws on the artists’ mutual interest in improvisation. As the clock ticks and the test continues, boundaries become increasingly blurred: who are the subjects of the test? Audience, performers or both?

Based in Sheffield, Forced Entertainment have been at the forefront of new developments in theatre and performance since the company was established in 1984. Renowned internationally for pushing the boundaries of contemporary performance, they have been key players in the development of contemporary theatre language, and the debate on the form itself.

The company’s work explores and often explodes the conventions of genre, narrative and theatre itself, drawing influence not just from drama, but from performance art, dance, music culture and popular forms such as cabaret and stand-up. With an impressive archive of groundbreaking experimental work spanning almost 40 years, Forced Entertainment’s longevity and contribution to the growth and development of British theatre is to be commended.

Catch If All Else Fails when it comes up North this November.

Where to go near If All Else Fails at Lancaster Arts

Lancashire
Library
The Ruskin Library, Lancashire

The Ruskin Library is a library of the University of Lancaster which houses the Whitehouse Collection of material relating to the English poet, author and artist John Ruskin and his circle.

GB Antiques Centre, Lancaster
Lancaster
Shop
GB Antiques Centre

GB Antiques Centre is now the country’s biggest indoor antiques and furniture centre, attracting 220,000 visitors every year. Recently extended, and set all on one floor, there’s 120 individual dealers, each with their own specialties, offering an amazing choice and variety of wares.

Lancaster Brewery
Lancaster
Bar or Pub
Lancaster Brewery

Brewhouse & tap with an outdoor beer garden. Tours and tasting sessions are also available at this award-winning brewery.

Lancaster
Bar or Pub
Aquila Pizza

You can order online or over the phone to get your pizza fix. With regular deals on multiple pizzas and breads available for delivery and collection across Lancaster and Morecambe mid-week and weekends then keep your eyes on Aquila’s website and social channels.

Lancashire
Restaurant
The Herbarium

This plant-based cafe and bar serves delicious vegan breakfasts and coffees in the day, before transforming into a fantastic dinner venue in ‘Herb after Dark’.

The Port of Lancaster Smokehouse eatery
Lancaster
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Port of Lancaster Smokehouse

The Lancaster Smokehouse is a family owned business using traditional methods to smoke foods. It is based on the Lune Estuary in the small village of Glasson Dock.

The Dukes, Lancaster
Lancaster
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The Dukes

Lancashire’s only producing theatre hosts exciting seasons of work featuring new writing and the classics in a converted church in central Lancaster. The Dukes is also a cinema, hosts gigs, talks and other special events, run a youth theatre and is a popular all day cafe bar.

Lancaster
Event venue
The Storey Creative Industries Centre

Multi-purpose venue comprising an auditorium and lecture theatre, gallery space, café bar, Visitor Information Centre, hireable meeting rooms and conference/events spaces and private offices.

Lancaster
Library
Lancaster Library

Sitting in the heart of Lancaster is the Lancaster Library. When not serving its usual function, this beautiful space is occasionally transformed into an unlikely gig venue.

Lancashire
Bar or Pub
The Stonewell Tap

The Stonewell Tap is a lively craft beer bar on Church Street, Lancaster, which boasts 16 craft beer taps and 4 real hand-pulled ale pumps.

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