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SPACE 50
About Space 50 Reviews Tour Dates Past Performances
Information for Venues
Devised and Performed by Niki McCretton & Jamie Wood
Directed by Guy Dartnell
Text by Andrew Smith (Author of Moondust)
Animations by Susan Sloan & Adam Vanner
Film by Kathy Hinde........Music by Paul Riordan
Show length 70 Minutes........Suitable for age range Adult - age 11
COMMISSIONED BY:
The Institute of Contemporary Interdisciplinary Arts (ICIA)
University of Bath, Bath, North East Somerset, U.K. |
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An Epic Journey Through Time & Space
As a child, Niki McCretton wanted to be an astronaut. Now, in the 21st Century, space tourism is here. Driven by her lifelong passion, Niki takes us on an epic expedition of extraordinary moments from history, fuelled by her imagination. Spanning 50 years of the space race, Space 50 revisits a time when ambition exceeded logic and men were sent to the Moon to touch down in little more than a tinfoil spacecraft. Space 50 tells some of the personal stories of those people who experienced this astronomic goal, who saw Earth from outer space, and the aftermath.
Space 50 is physical in style with a strong narrative. It features two live performers and is produced by an outstanding creative team featuring animation, film and an original score. The text has been written by Andrew Smith whose best-seller Moondust recounts how he tracks down nine of the astronauts who walked on the Moon. The original concept and research for the piece included working with leading popular-science author Piers Bizony who specialises in space. This is Niki's second project with award-winning director Guy Dartnell and film-maker Kathy Hinde.
In preparation for Space 50, Niki's research took her to Star City in Russia where she visited the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre just outside Moscow and saw the Soyuz simulators, the centrifuge room and the neutral buoyancy lab -- an underwater facility which simulates the conditions of a zero-g space walk. Niki explains: "I traveled to Russia with my father who is 66 and had some fascinating memories of the space age. I'm interested in the memories and opinions that people have, going right back to 1957. So much has changed since satellites came along and I want to reflect those planetary rites of passage." She also met Captain Alan Bean of the Apollo 12 mission, the fourth man to walk on the Moon (and the first man to eat spaghetti there!).
Watch Space 50 on youtube.com
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Endorsement by
Sir Arthur C. Clarke
Our human achievements in space over the past half-century should be marked by a celebration that reflects such innovation and exhilaration. Space 50 will, I’m sure, present audiences across the globe with a lasting experience that draws them into the joy of exploration and enables them, as space travel does, to reflect on their own humanity and the beauty of our unique planet. |
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