New Ockham’s Razor show, Collaborator, considers the ‘cost’ of working with another person

Collaborator, the new show by Ockham’s Razor, produced by Turtle Key Arts, considers the trials  and tribulations of working with someone else. Co-Artistic Directors of Ockham’s Razor, Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey, perform an intimate aerial duet about creation and compromise. It is an irreverent, highly physical and heartfelt dive into navigating a relationship and the negotiations involved.

After decades of creating large-scale ensemble works and touring internationally, Collaborator marks a significant moment for Ockham’s Razor, showcasing its two founders, it brings the focus  back to the essential creative relationship between these two artists. Performed on a suspended metal frame the show features choreography by Nathan Johnson and costume design by Tina Bicât. 

Charlotte and Alex comment, For 20 years we have been making circus together. Lifting, catching and carrying; stepping on and around each other. We have been dropped and have picked each other up. This new intimate duet is for anyone who has ever tried to make something with someone else: a decision, a work of art, a life.

Although Collaborator is their story, maybe you’ll find it’s yours too with a shared understanding  of the balance, trust and frustration that goes into partnership.

This will be the final time to see Charlotte and Alex perform as a duo and this performance presents a distilled statement of their shared history, artistic trust and the many decisions,  compromises and collaborations that have shaped their practice together.

Uniquely, Ockham’s Razor are opening the door to their rehearsals across four days of the  process, inviting audiences emerging performers, makers, producers and students of circus or  physical theatre, to witness the live devising process of our new show Collaborator. This free  opportunity offers an incredible sneak peek at one of the UK’s leading circus companies  practices.

Ockham’s Razor has earned an international reputation by mounting ambitious, visually bold  productions that blend aerial theatre with sculptural equipment and theatrical storytelling. Collaborator pares things back but with the same rigour, inventiveness and emotional weight for  which the company is known. By returning to duo form, Mooney and Harvey allow the  apparatus, trust and lived history between them to become the central narrative.

They’re a company whose work is often full of joy, wonder and delight (The Guardian). Ockham’s Razor produced by Turtle Key Arts present Collaborator, funded by Arts Council  England and N Smith Charitable Settlement in association with MimeLondon and The Lowry  Salford. Supported by artsdepot, Proteus Theatre and Flying Fantastic.

Collaborator plays at The Lowry Salford 5^th – 7^th February. Tickets are available here.