About

Due to unforeseen circumstances the scheduled performances of Ant Hampton - The Extra People have been cancelled. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and can offer you a full refund for the tickets you have purchased.

Ant Hampton: The Extra People

An automated, voice-directed system borrowed from warehouse management changes voices and becomes a child. The great void of a large and dormant theatre is turned into a 'space for production'. An audience are cast as extras, given flashlights and high-visibility vests, and cycled through the ‘production’ in groups of fifteen: 30 mins in the seats, 30 on stage. The concatenated, synthetic and at times melancholic voice guiding them (via binaural recordings in their headphones) seems to come from speakers in the room, audible to everyone.

But nothing is shared. Collectivity is illusion, and this audience is atomised, adrift or apparently asleep among both seating and stage, plugged into separate audio streams, awaiting the call for what seems to be a rehearsal for abandonment, a trying-on of powerlessness. Things seem both alien and familiar, like a dream mixing past experience with anticipated trauma. Is it the system dreaming, or the ‘extras' within it - or both?

As the operations shift from obtuse attempts at functionality to an incongruous interest in sentience and interiority, so the dynamic seems less top-down than inside-out: a decidedly non-efficient, looping and hallucinatory process, wherein roles of attendant and dependent switch as easily as the flashlights changing hands.

"An ingeniously created world (…) The Extra People is a brave and intricate experience, and one that is completely unique. I think none present for these two evenings will soon forget it.”

- Sherri Kronfeld for New York Theatre Review

"The Extra People is rather dangerous actually, not to the public, but to notions of representation and participation (…) plunging us deep into the defining social and economic reality of our times: empty, disconnected, monitored, vaguely menacing and very public: on a stage, in fact. As we prepare to leave, another group enters and the show goes on."

- Molly Grogan for Exeunt Magazine

written and directed by Ant Hampton

sound design and composition - Sam Britton

artistic advice- Kate McIntosh

editing and system design / tech director - Hugh Roche Kelly

early development / brainstorming - Geoff Sobelle and Trey Lyford

assistance at Empac - Julia Asharaf

Creative producer - Katja Timmerberg

Translation and voice reworking

French - Khristine Gillard

Dutch - Daan Alkemade

commissioned by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

Coproduction partners - Kaaitheater (Brussels), Malta Festival (Posnan), French Institute Alliance Française (NYC)

supported by the Culture Program of the European Commission via the House on Fire network

Thanks to Vallejo Gantner, Britt Hatzius, Matthieu Goeury / Vooruit, Edmund and Tina Manwarren Roche-Kelly and to the many volunteers who have helped with tryouts and development in Troy, Brussels and Gent.

Special thanks to Coda Cola, London, for generous studio support.

General Information

Guests with Mobility Impairments

Guests who use a wheelchair or experience mobility impairments are asked to call the box office on 01273 678822 or email info@attenboroughcentre.com so that we can assist you to find the best seat to suit your requirements.

Pay What You Decide

There are up to 20 Pay What You Decide (PWYD) tickets available to guests on a first-come, first-served basis. Come and see the show without paying anything in advance, and then pay what you think is appropriate at the end of the show. Maximum of four PWYD tickets per person. Please phone the box office on 01273 678822 or email info@attenboroughcentre.com for further information.

Concessions

The Concessions rate is available for students, University of Sussex students, Over 60s, and people in receipt of JSA or DLA/PIP. Proof of eligibility may be required on the door or at the box office (if collecting).

Personal assistance tickets are available for free for customers who would otherwise be unable to attend the venue. Please contact the box office on 01273 678822 or email info@attenboroughcentre.com for further information.

Box Office Opening Times

The box office (phone line and drop-in service) is open from 10am to 4pm, Mondays to Fridays. The box office is also open one hour before the advertised show start time.