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     LIGHTING DESIGN for

A Ballad for Thamesmead

Dante or Die for

The Greenwich and Docklands Festival (GDIF)

Thamesmead Clocktower

September 2024

Video Credit, Elijah Grant

DIRECTOR | ARTI PRASHAR

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR |   TERRY O'DONOVAN
COMPOSITION & SOUND DESIGN | MARIE BASHIRU  
SET & COSTUME DESIGN | STEWART J CHARLESWORTH

MOVEMENT DIRECTION |  AYSE TASHKIRAN

ASSISTANT MOVEMENT DIRECTOR |  ELIZE LAYTON

STAGE MANAGERS |   STELLA KAILIDES & ELLEN SWAILES

PERFORMERS | JASMINE CHIU, JORDAN AJIDI & SIMON RICE​

FEATURING THE THAMESMEAD COMMUNITY CHOIR

1986. The restored Nelson’s Clock is hauled onto a barge in Deptford and sailed down the Thames –

a gift to a new town centre at the vibrant focal point of Thamesmead.

2024. A baby coot nestles in her canal nest in the shadow of the clocktower. Three kids scuttle up and down the steps playing families. And a woman sits looking up at the hands tick-tick-ticking away, pondering the ebbs and flows of home.

Created by award-winning site-specific theatre company Dante or Die, A Ballad of Thamesmead gently peeks into how the world around us impacts how we feel about our home. Live folk songs by Abbey Wood native Marie Bashiru alongside Thamesmead Community Choir interweave with a soaring sound design that includes local peoples’ voices, culminating in the clocktower illuminated like never before. 

A Ballad of Thamesmead is supported by PeabodyThe Royal Borough of GreenwichRoyal Greenwich Festivals and Arts Council England.  

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