Why I Am and Why I Am Not
Quarantine
Information
Dates and Times:
The Balcony:
6 Mar, 6:30pm – 7:45pm
The Rooms:
7-8 Mar, from 1pm
Tickets: Free
Running Time:
The Balcony: 75 mins (approx.)
The Rooms: 3 hours (approx.)
The Balcony takes place in person outside Battersea Arts Centre’s front entrance.
The Rooms takes place in person across various spaces within Battersea Arts Centre
A provocation in two parts.
Part 1: The Balcony
Part 2: The Rooms
Why I am and why I am not is a weekend-long intervention starting with speeches from the balcony of our building – formerly Battersea Town Hall.
Inspired by Bertrand Russell’s famously controversial speech ‘Why I Am Not A Christian’ given in the Town Hall in 1927, 12 people from all walks of life: a child, a professional speechmaker, a new arrival to the area and, perhaps, somebody famous, will make an address to the public, beginning with either the phrase ‘Why I Am’ or ‘Why I Am Not’.
Tackling subjects from the personal to the universal, from the seemingly flippant to the certainly urgent, The Balcony presents a diverse set of voices and personalities, brought together in a celebrated proclamation of people and place.
From the grandeur of the balcony, to the intimacy of BAC’s hidden spaces, The Rooms invites you in to talk to, listen to, and possibly even question these individuals away from their imposing platform.
Responding with the counter to why they are / why they are not, The Rooms draws on the internal, away from the public eye, to present a delicate portrait of each person.
Combined as a whole across one weekend, Why I am and why I am not is a meditation on our outer and inner lives, who we are behind closed doors and the version of ourselves we present to the wider world.
PART OF A PUBLIC ADDRESS
A Public Address sees award-winning theatre collective Quarantine take over the former Town Hall – now Battersea Arts Centre – to ask: who gets heard in a place like this today?
Part of Wandsworth’s year as the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture.
Biographies
Quarantine is an award-winning ensemble of artists and producers making cross-disciplinary work that explores what it means to live right now. Founded in Manchester in 1998, they create and tour projects around the world that are both intimate and immediate in their relationships with people, and global in their reference and scope.
Quarantine is known internationally for intellectually rigorous, socially progressive and inventive art that questions who gets seen, whose stories are told and who stands in for whom. Questions about representation lie at the heart of their work.
Credits
A Public Address is a BAC and Quarantine co-production, supported by Arts Council England.
Part of Welcome to Wandsworth, London Borough of Culture. London Borough of Culture is a Mayor of London initiative.
Why I am and why I am not:
Concept & Creation Richard Gregory and Renny O’Shea
Producer Kevin Jamieson
Access
PRE EVENT INFORMATION
The Balcony speeches take place in person outside the front entrance of Battersea Arts Centre. This is on the ground floor with step-free access.
The Rooms exhibition takes place across various spaces within Battersea Arts Centre. There is step-free access to the ground floor, and step-free access to the first-floor via a lift
Once you book a ticket, you will receive an email before the event detailing important information about your visit.
PERFORMANCE INFORMATION
This event will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to. If you need to leave the event at any point, you will be allowed to return when you feel ready.