Delirium Nation Launches Old Vic Tunnels Shift

Your Nation Loves You, a new multi-sensory devised piece by emerging company Delirium, will be the first theatrical piece in the recently acquired and christened Old Vic Tunnels beneath Waterloo Station (See News, 19 Feb 2010). It will run from 26 March to 2 April 2010, with performances twice nightly at varying times.

Your Nation Loves You follows 12 people in their struggle to survive in a new uncompromising environment. Following a ‘threat’ on Britain, they’ve been plucked from the streets of London and stored underground, chosen according to the constant records that the government keeps. As days turn to weeks and weeks to months with little knowledge of what’s happening on the surface, the ‘survivors’ live through hope and despair dreaming of returning to their loved ones, and striving to build a community.

Old Vic artistic director Kevin Spacey has advised Delirium’s research and development over the past year’s development for the piece, which is backed by Old Vic New Voices, the theatre’s programme for supporting young and emerging talent.

The Old Vic announced its acquisition of the previously disused railway tunnels last month, creating a new, non-profit performance space for a series of at least four shows and art installations this year. The space, now known as the Old Vic Tunnels, was first unveiled in May 2009 in a collaboration between the Old Vic and site-specific specialists Punchdrunk (See News, 8 May 2009).

That inaugural show, simply called Tunnel 228 after British Rail’s name for the space, took over the disused vaults for 15 days, with 15,000 free tickets snapped up within hours of being announced.

For the new initiative, the Old Vic-curated shows will typically run between two to five weeks. The 2010 Tunnels season will culminated with an Old Vic New Voices community production entitled Platform, which will see 100 Londoners devising a new piece of theatre specifically for the space. The theatre will hold open auditions for Platform, and again will make tickets free of charge, for an anticipated 4,000-strong audience over ten performances.

Tickets for Your Nation Loves You are priced £10 and can be booked via Delirium’s website at www.yournationlovesyou.com.