Seder is a multidisciplinary work exploring the themes of ritual, retelling and survival.
Beginning with the ancient ritual of the Passover feast, Seder is a multidisciplinary work exploring the themes of ritual, retelling and survival.
Inspired by Adam Kammerling’s poetry collection of the same name, which tells the story of kindertransport evacuee Walter Kammerling and his family, Seder begins with the ritual of the Passover feast, an annual retelling of Hebrew survival. It opens up the ceremony to experiences from outside the diaspora, encompassing the lives of the company. As a result it explores stories of Malay and Chinese mixed heritages, persecution of LGBTQ+ bodies, familial trauma and addiction.
Equal parts joyful and harrowing, the piece looks at the rituals we have for retelling our histories and examines the importance of developing our own. A mixture of jazz drumming, otherworldly sound, contemporary dance, breaking, crump and poetry, the cohort create an immersive performance world that is awe-inspiring, challenging and totally unique. Seder is a development of the spoken-word theatre form, exploring how text can exist like any other player on the stage: not ubiquitous, not continuous, but always impactful and essential.
Former UK poetry slam champion, Adam Kammerling is an award winning poet, interdisciplinary artist and educator. His most recent works include Seder, his debut poetry collection which was a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards, Shall We Take This Outside, a three-person spoken-word/dance theatre piece that toured nationally, and Inside!, a piece of poetry/rave theatre commissioned by Centrepoint and the Saatchi Gallery.
He has written poetry commissions for the BBC, The Orwell Prize and Nationwide, and theatre commissions for Upswing Circus, Raise Dark, and Slide Dance.
A highly experienced educator, he has created poetry based theatre with emerging poets, musicians and circus practitioners at the Roundhouse, The Albany and Pentonville Prison. He is the creative producer of The Nest, an arts education program for young people at the Fostering Network.