who hurt you?
WHO HURT YOU? is set in a retirement home for aged drag stars and showcases the final performance of a seminal relic and her embittered ensemble. A dystopian reality where space has broken down, the theatres are closing, no money is left, a fading drag stars fading glory, A tenacious backing , a prima-donna lead violinist, and a wanna be star vying for the spotlight unravelling like a tale of desperate delusion.
Interspersed with performances of pop songs and haunting ballads and supported by a student Orchestra. WHO HURT YOU? explores themes of queerness and class, exploitation and community. WHO HURT YOU? explores the avenues of survival available to us within the spectacle of our contemporary commercial culture.
“I got one interest here, and that's the show. I don't care whether you live or die. I want to see you dance and I want to see you smile. I can't use you if you can't smile, I can't use you if you can't show, I can't use you if you can't sell.”
Tony Moss, Show Girls (1995)
“I hypnotised myself so in my subconscious, I believed I couldn't get hurt. And I don't mean 'believe' - I mean believe believe believe.”
Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull)
A heavy mix of biographical and autobiographical material, WHO HURT YOU? exemplifies BULLYACHE’s characteristic blurring of the lines between character and self; audience and participant. Deyn and Samuel are joined on stage by legendary drag artist and pianist Barbs, Hofesh Schecter dancer Oscar Jinghu Li, and composer and performer Magnus Westwell.
Directed, Scored and Choreographed
BULLYACHE (Jacob Samuel & Courtney Deyn)
Ass. Choreographer & Rehearsal Director
Performers
Oscar Li, Barbs & Magnus Westwell
String Arrangement
Production
Nancy May Roberts at Metal & Water
Lighting
Costumes
Jordan Sherman (Lambdog 1066)
Dramaturgy
Production Design
Additional Music Contributors
RnD Support
Sam Hall
Supported by
TOM
TOM is set In a holding room, participants wait.
A pageant is about to begin.
No call time, perpetual purgatory.
TOM is a look at the insanity of bureaucracy, institutional power and performed compliance that is ever present in our lives. Six performers draw on their real-life experiences of being; a world champion gymnast, backing dancers for Dua Lipa and Kylie, NDT and Akram Kahn, legendary Voguers, ballroom dancers, and B-boy’s. Contained within a live pop music-video that never ends.
We blend the myth of Orpheus with the DWP, in a vertigo- inducing pop-culture collision of working class and queer expression. Featuring original live music and dance, TOM oscillates between hyper-speed pop, ambient waves and auto-tune vocals. BULLYACHE and cast burst into song, fight, fuck, live, laugh, love, to dissect the heavy price of being in a world that demands too much.
Elements of TOM’s score have been adapted for live music performance and premiered at Abbey Road. Subsequent films are in development furthering the sonic and visual world of the show.
Concept, director, composer
JACOB SAMUEL & COURTNEY DEYN
Rehearsal Director
SCILLA RAJALIN OSCAR LI BECKY NAMGAUDS
Producer
FRASER BUCHANAN, ARTSADMIN
Lighting Designer
LAURIE LOADS
Costume Designer
LAMBDOG1066
Performers
YEN-CHING LIN, ED MITCHELL, JAMES OLIVO, LEWIS WALKER, BOSTON GALLACHER, BELEN LEROUX & COURTNEY DEYN
R+D including
JAL JOSHUA & D’ANGELO CASTRO
Commissioned by
THE YARD THEATRE
Supported by
CURRENTLY IN DEVELOPMENT
a good man is hard to find
A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND is based on a reconstruction of Medea.
A funeral set inside the sculpture of a pop music video, Princess Dianna meets Hype Williams, asking how grief is dealt with in a performative landscape. A pop-culture collision featuring a cast of world class performers from Gold Medalists to Rosalia dancers and Tim Walker muses, an experience like subconscious scrolling through a TikTok feed.
Concept, director, composer
JACOB SAMUEL & COURTNEY DEYN
Rehearsal Director
SCILLA RAJALIN
Producer
FRASER BUCHANAN, ARTSADMIN
Costume Designer
LAMBDOG1066
Performers
YEN-CHING LIN, ED MITCHELL, JASPER NARVAEZ, EVAN SAGADENCKY, MAGNUS WESTWELL & COURTNEY DEYN
Supported by
cv
SHOWS
2024 TOM - Sophiensaele, Berlin
2024 WHO HURT YOU? - Bold Tendencies, London
2024 TOM - Black Box Theatre, Oslo
2024 WHO HURT YOU? - Elgar Music Hall, Birmingham University - w/15 piece String Ensemble
2023 TOM - Kampnagel, Hamburg
2023 TOM - Horizon Showcase, Edinburgh, Fringe Festival Performance
2023 TOM - The Yard, London, UK premiere, Now Festival
2023 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND - Barbican, London, Open Labs, residency and sharing
2022 TOM - Les Urbaines, Lausanne
2022 TOM - Futur.Shock, FOLD nightclub,
2022 TOM - Snape Maltings Residency, Britten Pears Suffolk
MUSIC
2024 Abbey Road - Equalise, Live Music Video
2023 Mind Ur Head - London
2022 Transmissions Festival - Ravenna
2022 FIORIARTIFICIALI - Milan, Performance & Residency
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
2023/24 Sounding Change - University of Birmingham
2024 Open Labs - Barbican
RESIDENCIES
2024 Mas Palou - Artist Residency
2023/24 Sounding Change - Artist in Residence, University of Birmingham
2023 WHO HURT YOU? - Talent Lab, Theatre de LeVille, Luxembourg
2023 European Network Opera Academy - Immersive Residents
2023 TOM - Artsadmin, London, Lab
2023 TOM - Let’s Create, FABRIC (formerly dance exchange), Birmingham
2023 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND - ArtsDepot, London, Research Residency
2022 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND - The Place, London, Choreodrome, Research Residency
2022 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND - Bijloke Summer Academy, Ghent, Research Residency
2022 Let Us Raise You - Raze Collective, London,
2022 Elevate East - Richmix
2021 New Voices Commission - Sound and Music
FILM / ONLINE
2023 Dimensions Award for Digital Production - Sound and Music, collaboration: Basten Stokhuijzen
2021 Never Let You/Jeremiah - Dance on Camera, funded by Arts Council England & Hackney Showroom
We also host variuous workshops / facilitation / panel discussion