Sherman Marks Building Closure With A Unique Backstage Performance

16 Feb 2010

Over 100 young people will take over Sherman this month for a special performance throughout the empty dressing rooms and corridors marking the theatre’s closure for redevelopment.

The Sherman building closes this February for an 18 month redevelopment, following a £3.9 million grant from the Arts Council of Wales. Young people from the Sherman Cymru’s Youth Theatre will take over the empty shell of the building to perform Oedipus | Antigone before building work begins. Director Phillip Mackenzie comments:

“This is a unique opportunity to see the Sherman building used as never before. Over 100 young people retell the mythic tragedies of Oedipus and Antigone. The audience will follow the drama as it unfolds in the empty dressing rooms and abandoned corridors, across the deserted foyer, and in the darkened auditoriums of the theatre.”

Oedipus | Antigone is the Greek Trilogy about Oedipus who unknowingly kills his father and marries his mother, and Antigone, Oedipus’s sister and daughter.

The Sherman building redevelopment will vastly improve the experience that audiences have when visiting the theatre in the future, with a complete overhaul of the front of house area and a totally new look for the front of the building. There will also be new seating, heating and ventilation systems as well as improvements to accessibility in all areas of the building. Sherman Cymru are continuing to raise the remaining £1.5 million pounds needed for the project. Sherman Cymru will continue to produce work elsewhere in Cardiff and beyond during the building closure period.

More information of Oedipus | Antigone

More information on Sherman’s Redevelopment