MEDIATHEK

On The High Road is Clod Ensemble’s beautiful, gripping and urgent new production.
 
The performance features a large ensemble of singers, dancers and actors are squeezed into a tiny white structure in the centre of an inky black stage. Acclaimed composer Paul Clark’s intense score drives the piece – a combination of heavily manipulated weather samples, acoustic strings and haunting songs.
 
A key collaboration in the work is with the Irish Traveller, folk singer and storyteller Thomas McCarthy - one of three live singers in the production who each come from distinct singing traditions. On The High Road connects with ballad traditions from around the world – the place where storytelling and music meet – drawing on the hundreds of songs that deal with someone forced to leave home, wanting to leave or refusing to leave.
 
On The High Road draws on the mise en scène of a short play by Anton Chekov of the same name. However, we are not using Chekov’s text or narrative, and there is no text used in the performance apart from within three songs.
 
Powerful themes about difference, refuge and intolerance never go away, but seem especially relevant in the current context of European and world politics. On The High Road continues Clod Ensemble’s reputation for work that defies traditional categorisation, combining a turbulent mix of music, movement and visual imagery.