About

The Theatre Group is a dynamic collective of practitioners run by our Artist in Residence and writer Natascha Nanji. The collective works to expand the potentials of theatrical expression, via live rehearsal to force private thinking out into the social space.

During this residency, The Theatre Group presents Table Reads, a pre-production, process-led, structured read through of a play. Over six weeks, a group of actors will gather weekly to read "The Tree Climber" by Egyptian writer Tawfiq al-Hakim. At each read through, Natascha will direct the actors, adding and subtracting elements such as instructions, objects & and props, lighting, and sound. The residency will culminate in a live directed performance of the table reading.

Written in 1962, The Tree Climber is about "a detective, a lizard, a time-traveling dervish, and a magic tree all help to turn the quiet life of a married couple upside down."

Natascha Nanji is a London-based artist and writer. She is co-editor & publisher of Lay it on Thick, a literary magazine about queer desire and erotics, and co-runs The Theatre Group. Most recently her work has been commissioned for the 14th Annual Queer Arts Festival in Vancouver, Spike Island in Bristol, and feminist press Sticky Fingers.