Set to an original score featuring live strings, percussion and bagpipes, An Anatomie in Four Quarters celebrates the physical structure of the bodies we inhabit and the ways we attempt to see, define, contain, name and value them.

The magnificent anatomy of Sadler’s Wells theatre is itself dissected as the audience promenade to different viewing positions throughout the piece, examining what it means to open up and to be opened.

Clod Ensemble has been making work that crosses the boundaries between dance, theatre and visual art for over a decade led by award-winning collaborators Suzy Willson and Paul Clark. Clod Ensemble has been specially commissioned to make this site-responsive piece for the Sadler’s Wells Theatre – the first in its history.

The piece is one of the events in Clod Ensemble’s Performing Medicine Anatomy Season 2011 – a series of conversations, performances and workshops taking place across London between October and December 2011. 

Creative Team

Direction & Choreography Suzy Willson
Music Paul Clark
Costume Sarah Blenkinsop
Lighting Hansjörg Schmidt

Cast

Zoe Bywater, Mariana Camiloti, Valentina Golfieri, Laura de Vos, Silvia Mercuriali, Matthew Morris, Pari Naderi, Ramona Nagabczynska, Yuyu Rau, Ino Riga, Owen Ridley-DeMonick, Alessandra Ruggeri, Sarah Cameron, Jason Thorpe.

Musicians

James Keane, Nuno Silva, Galen Nikolov, Catherine Ring, Natalia Bonner, Calina de la Mare, Alison Dods, Tom Piggott-Smith, Kate Robinson, Sarah Malcolm, Rebekah Allan, Chris Pitsillides, Chris Allan, Desmond Neysmith, Natalie Raybould Chorus Legs Helena Astridge, Emma Lansley, Yukiko Masui, Tia Liana Ogilvie, Anna Kirakowska, Ursula Kelly, Chiara Barassi

Critical Acclaim for An Anatomie in Four Quarters

"[An Anatomie in Four Quarters] presents big ideas more tantalising than it's beguilingly various components." Sunday Times ****

"Clod Ensemble's fascinating new work should blast away any memories of dull anatomy lessons. I'd advise any student of anatomy, or anyone interested in the functions of human physicality, to see this work" The Guardian

"The beauty of Clod Ensemble’s promenade dance piece is that it manages to simultaneously be all about that theatre, all about theatre, all about the individual and all about the human race. It seems an impossibly grand achievement for a show lasting about an hour performed by fewer than 20 dancers, but it’s all very cleverly constructed, from the restricted audience of 200 to the final curtain fall ... As the huge stage doors are opened and we blinkingly exit, there is a feeling of having been involved in something with genuine meaning." Islington Tribune