We warmly invite you to join us for an open rehearsal of LEPUS PRODUCTIONS' new show Into the Cuckoo's Nest, Martin Green of LAU's latest project.

Why an open rehearsal?

Into the Cuckoo's Nest brings together film, folk music and immersive theatre. Whilst we are resident at the wonderful SPILL FESTIVAL we want to test how those elements are working together by working with a live audience.

So we're looking for curious and interested audience members. Maybe you're a folk fan up for some new experiences, or a theatre fan keen to come into a rehearsal room, or maybe you would just like to see what we are up to. But dont think you'll be sat down and performed at - at all three of the open rehearsals you can expect to be part of the action in some way!

About Into the Cuckoo's Nest

“I see it in your eyes and it fills me with surprise
That your inclination lies in my cuckoo's nest.

Martin writes:-

Before I knew what sex was, and before I knew that Cuckoos don’t build nests, I knew the song the Cuckoo’s Nest. Whilst looking at various bits of folk song recently, a version of this song appeared in my YouTube side bar. I stuck it on out of nostalgia and one of the comments below was “we shouldn’t be singing these songs any more”. And thus started a trail of thought about folk song, sex and the rather disturbing nature of the cuckoo.

We’re only part way through making the show right now. We know we’ll start with the seemingly timeless tradition of musicians swapping traditional tunes in a social setting, but from there we will begin a voyage into unsettling territories as stories of Zeus and the barbaric attitudes of cuckoos in the wild emerge. We’ll move from pure folk music into a genre-defying mix of folk music/film/immersive theatre and electronica

Our initial experiments on the Cuckoo project – often around a camp fire – have been thrilling, daring, sometimes hair-raising. Now – as the next stage in our journey - we’re excited to be resident at SPILL further developing and rehearsing Into the Cuckoo’s Nest and we’d love to invite you into the process to join our explorations.

About the open rehearsals

The open rehearsals give you a chance to be part of the rehearsal process for Into the Cuckoo's Nest as the creative team begin to put together the show. We will welcome you in small groups into our rehearsal space for an introduction to where we are and what we are doing, followed by a 60 minute rehearsal ending in a feedback session.

About the Cuckoo Team

The project is being led by Martin Green who is best known as the accordionist for Lau (four times winner of the Best Group, BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards). He is joined by Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span and Brighde Chaimbeul who won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award in 2016.

Our immersive theatre team is led by Sophie Bortolussi who is best known in the UK for her work with Punchdrunk (most recently the lead in their The Drowned Man - A Hollywood Fable, but also Lady Macbeth in Sleep No More). Sophie is joined by Rob McNeill, a fellow Punchdrunk performer and Artistic Director of Stream Arts

The film and animation elements of the project are led by the BAFTA award winning WhiteRobot team of Will Anderson and Ainsley Henderson