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Antonia Franceschi

UNCAGED +

In Association with IMPERMANENCE

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18th - 22nd May, 7.30pm @ The Mount Without

- Matinee, Thursday 21st May, 2pm

Running time 75 mins, inc. interval

Sir Mark Rylance will host a post-show talk with the creative team, after the final performance on Friday 22nd.

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A triple bill of spectacular contemporary ballet.

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Featuring ASYLUM, commissioned by Vildwerk, a solo that explores ritual connections to nature, seeking otherness and altered states.

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Star of the Royal Ballet, Edward Watson OBE, will be performing ASYLUM on Monday & Tuesday.

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★★★★★ - The Stage

“The most impressive of the premieres is Asylum, a solo piece for Edward Watson, created for vildwerk. Centred around Watson’s singular organic geometry and his ability to shift from coiled pathos to angular kicks and thrusts, it has something of early Wayne McGregor about it."

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Alongside this solo work, the evening will feature the first outing of a new Dance Theatre play called PROPHECY, based on the lives of painters Lee Krasner and her husband Jackson Pollock. It's a duet performed by IMPERMANENCE co-directors, Roseanna Anderson & Josh Ben-Tovim with Antonia Franceschi as Choreographer and the award-winning Sara Joyce as Writer & Director.

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PROPHECY has grown out of an existing Ballet which Antonia choreographed with the late composer Claire van Kampen - UNCAGED - which looked at the relationship of the two painters, and the way Lee processed Jackson's death. 

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UNCAGED and another ballet for six dancers - KINDERSZENEN - which is set to the music of Allen Shawn, will be performed by a stunning cast of dancers, including a former principal of Scottish Ballet, a current nominee for Best Male Dancer at the National Dance Awards, alongside dancers from Company Wayne McGregor and Acosta Danza. 

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KINDERSZENEN was created for Ballet Black, it has been performed by New York Theatre Ballet and we are thrilled to present the Bristol premiere of this piece.‍

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Sir Mark Rylance is the Executive Producer, along with support from Broadway producer Douglas Denoff. UNCAGED+ has been produced by IMPERMANENCE and there are hopes for the work to grow into a full length production later in the year in New York.

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We would like to thank the following people for their generous support of the development of UNCAGED+ in May, 2026: Fiona Erleigh, Karen Haigh, Stuart McBride, Shelley Latham, Jacqueline & Simon Taylor, Pauline Marson and Nick & Catherine Hanbury-Williams.

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Antonia Franceschi is a Time Out Award Winner for Outstanding Achievement In Dance and is an alumni of The New York City Ballet.

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She recently choreographed Dr Semmelweis at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre. She wrote Up From The Waste for The Soho Theatre. She choreographed Othello for The Globe Theatre as well as Idaspe for Pittsburgh's Byham Theater. She has choreographed extensively for British and American companies. Works have been created on her by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, Lubovitch, Baldwin, McGregor, Clarke, Armitage, and Phillips. As a young dancer while still in high school she starred in the films Fame & Grease.