Raw: Rhythm at Work
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Raw! Dates Pulled as Company Ceases Trading

Raw Shows Ltd, the company behind the current UK tour of dance and percussion show Raw! Rhythm at Work, has gone into liquidation today. The company is to cease trading as of tonight, resulting in the immediate termination of the rest of the tour. Already half-way through its schedule, which opened on 5 September in Norwich, Raw! was due to run into December with a further 11 stops, including a limited season, from 29 October to 10 November 2001, at the West End's Peacock Theatre.

Raw Shows’ directors, brother and sister Scott and Michelle Peters, attributed the company's demise to the decline in live theatre attendance following the terrorist attacks in America. A statement released by the company today said: "Recent world events have had an indirect but immediate effect on theatre box offices. With several hit West End shows closing within days of the tragedy in the USA, it was inevitable that there would be a knock-on effect in the regions...Although performances (of Raw!) in the UK have been rewarded with standing ovations, the audiences have been too small to sustain a large-scale regional tour and West End run."

Raw! enjoyed a successful European tour earlier this year. In the show, a group of performers use everything from cement mixers to stepladders, tin cans, hard hats, scrubbing brushes and garden tools to make noise with and perform high-velocity dance routines around. The show is also directed and choreographed by Scott and Michelle Peters, who began their careers as professional dancers.

Based in Birmingham this week, the Raw! tour was scheduled to continue to York, Salford, London, Cardiff, Eastbourne, Bournemouth, Rhyl, Halifax, Glasgow and Edinburgh. All performances have now been cancelled.

- by Terri Paddock

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