Forced Entertainment: Signal to Noise at Lancaster Arts

Now in their 40th anniversary year, Forced Entertainment have been at the forefront of developments in theatre and performance for four decades. Renowned internationally for pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatre, we’re thrilled that Lancaster Arts welcome our favourite theatre company back to the Nuffield Theatre, where they’ve regularly performed since 1985.

A heady mix of performance mayhem and theatrical deconstruction, Signal to Noise is a show to celebrate 40 years of Forced Entertainment tearing up the theatrical rulebook. Expect a wondrously fragmented performance of movement, rehearsals, altercations, scenery changes and unexpected weather reports.

Six performers, silly wigs, rows of costumes and a stage full of office chairs, pot plants and tables, create a unique space for a compelling discourse between performer and spectator. However, the performers’ voices are not their own but lip-synced language generated by AI. Throughout the 90-minute performance, they summon an uncanny and repetitive world of chatter, patter, unfinished jokes and off-topic interviews. There’s an overarching question of what’s human and what’s not, and what’s real life and what’s just pretending.

The speech and movement is flanked by Tim Etchells’ eclectic soundscape, comprised of everything from filmic atmosphere to noise, xylophones to slowed classical beats, trumpets, grunge guitars and birdsong. However, as with all of Forced Entertainment’s work, the performers – with their energy, inventiveness and rebellion – sit at the heart of the work.

Based in Sheffield, Forced Entertainment 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, Forced Entertainment’s longevity and contribution to the growth and development of British theatre is to be commended.

Happy 40th birthday Forced Entertainment. Catch Signal to Noise when the party comes to Lancaster Arts this November.