I once heard a story about a woman that stood on the side of a highway surrounded by a chorus of car horns. Clasped in her hands was a sign that read: ‘honk if you are feeling depressed’

The honking rang more or less continuously for hours. As the horns played out, the sign became a piece of music – the car horns an improvised choir. The sign gave voice to the city. The woman was an artist and the sign was her artwork.

Her decision to go out that day meant that the deeply personal interior reality of thousands became public, aesthetic and collective. Art often carries a special power for drawing upon deeply personal things to shape profoundly moving collective experiences. Just as it has the power

to enable new ways of listening and seeing things. This season Rosendal Theatre champions art and artists that do just that. Artists that delve into their own challenging personal questions, experiences and stories about love, friendship, sex, gender, family and home life, neurodivergence and

depression. Artists that shape personal experiences into something aesthetic, affective, common-to-many and political.

Artists that invite us to listen and gaze at ourselves, each other and the world around us with an imagination for transformation.

Beyond that, the house will be packed wall-to-wall, and pouring out into the streets, with all kinds of heart-stretching, playful, vulnerable, defiant and riotous art activities for all ages.

Expect dance, theatre, performance, concerts, festivals, discussions and debates, pop-up kitchens, parties, songs, dances, stories, rituals and all kinds of artistic adventures.

It’s not all in the programme, so keep an eye out.

It’s pay-what-you-can, so price never needs to be a barrier, but if you can

pay more, you enable those with less to pay less, which is pretty great.
See you at the events, as well as all the moments in between.

Click to see the full program.