Pi Leau invade Hastings!

Acrobatics! Dance, music, pyrotechnics! An underwater world of whales, mermaids and deadly fish! When the ice melts, sea levels rise and the world is covered in water, witness one brave fisherman’s fight to save a futuristic world threatened by the sea in a theatrical fairytale coming to Hastings on Saturday 23 June, writes hot reporter Joe Fearn.

Close-Act Theatre, founded in 1991 in the Netherlands, is a collaboration of designers, actors, dancers, choreographers and musicians; all the disciplines combined for this unique form of theatre which is performed in between and above the public, combining the acts with people. The stories use of technology, combined with the ability, passion and skills of the actors, creates an imminent sense of reality as actors and mobile objects move through and with the crowd and, like the sea, people find their way around the emerging obstacles; the show, entitled Pi-Leau is street theatre that literally moves the audience in a visually strong performance without the limitations of age, language or cultural boundaries.

This free show promises the ultimate in audience participation with swirling 30 feet high structures gliding around the entire open space of the Stade, enveloping everyone in a magical world created through mesmerizing sound and stunning lighting effects.

Throughout the day people can see Close Act and a local troupe of performers and drummers, when they come to the Town Centre ahead of the performance at the Stade Open space. At 11.45am the parade will start on the seafront at Robertson Street and Claremont Street and there will be pop-up performances in Hastings Town Centre between midday and 1pm, and at 3pm in Alexandra Park of what you can expect at the evening show.

To ensure the show’s success, Margaret Sheehy of MSL and Mandy Curtis of 18 Hours, two local event producers, have developed the Hastings Marshals, a scheme which trains local people to act as stewards, and they will be on duty for Close Act’s four-day stay in town, and for other events on the exciting new Stade Saturdays programme. Hastings Marshalls is an idea that has won support from across Hastings, with funding from Hastings Trust and training from Sussex Coast College and the White Rock Theatre.

For the main event arrive at the Stade by the Jerwood Gallery by 9.45 pm. Pi Leau will start at 10pm.

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