Dublin Theatre Festival Welcomes Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre

James returns Dublin for his father's funeral having been away for 11 years. He is late and misses the burial by a day and a half. Not long afterwards he becomes embroiled in the lives of ten characters; the local politician, his wife and their son, the policeman and his wife, a farmer, a doctor, a merchant, his daughter and a young woman from the east.

James Son of James is a story of accidental heroism, hero worship, sadness, love, power, betrayal and revenge, told through image, dance, and song, by eleven extraordinary, international performers from Slovakia, Ireland, England, Laos, Nigeria, Tanzania and France.

James Son of James is the final part of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre's Midlands Trilogy. Giselle started the journey, The Bull took the company a long way from home and now James Son of James concludes this particular voyage.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

WORLD PREMIERE Samuel Beckett Theatre, Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival (1 – 13 Oct 2007)

Northern Stage, Newcastle (30 Jan – 2 Feb 2008)

Barbican, London (5 – 9 Feb)

The Dome, Brighton (12 & 13 Feb)

Oxford Playhouse (15 & 16 Feb)

Nottingham Playhouse (21 – 23 Feb)

Warwick Arts Centre (26 Feb – 1 March)

Sheffield Lyceum (8 & 9 April)

Wycombe Swan, Swindon (11 & 12 April)

Lighthouse, Pool (16 – 19 April)

The Lowry, Salford (22 – 26 April)

Hall for Cornwall (2 & 3 May)

JAMES SON OF JAMES is a Fabulous Beast co production with Ulster Bank Dublin Theatre Festival barbicanbite08 & Dance Touring Partnership and is generously supported by The Arts Council of Ireland/ An Chomhairle Ealaíon; The Arts Council of England and Culture Ireland

The Midlands Trilogy began with Giselle in 2003. A unique and startling reworking of a timeless story, Giselle examines the universal condition of human suffering, which can be exasperated by living in a small town in the centre of a rural landscape. Commissioned and co-produced by the Dublin Theatre Festival and BITE, it also played at the International Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven and will be seen at the Festival Dialog in Wroclaw in October 2007. In 2005, the company created the second part of the trilogy, The Bull also a BITE/Dublin Theatre Festival co-production. Described by leading Irish critic Fintan O'Toole as "the first great piece of theatre about the new hyped-up 21st century Ireland! ", The Bull is based on the ancient Irish epic, The Táin. -- www.dublintheatrefestival.com