In a world where most of us memorise nothing more poetic than passwords and pin numbers, what is the value of a show built around 10 people learning a Shakespeare sonnet by heart?

“As you can see, there are ten empty chairs on the stage. I’d like for ten spectators to come sit on them. Before you accept my invitation enthusiastically, I need to add that those ten spectators will have to learn a text by heart. It’s a short text, not too difficult, but not too simple, either. Those ten spectators won’t have to act. They won’t have to do anything in particular. Everything will be calm and normal.”

For the past ten years, director of Festival d’Avignon, Tiago Rodrigues, has presented By Heart – a heartrending show, the result of a request from his grandmother as she was going blind.

Combining Shakespeare’s sonnet and the writings of George Steiner, Boris Pasternak and Ray Bradbury, the performance makes its UK premiere as a true manifesto for the power of poetry through the creation of an unexpected community.

‘Rodrigues uses his memorization exercise to create an intimate performance that connects people through text.’ The New York Times

‘An idiosyncratic and ultimately profound meditation on the rewards and challenges of memorizing great literature.’ The Washington Post

‘Celebrates the essence of theatre as something made by people in a shared space, together.’ The Theatre Times