Let Me Play The Lion Too 2018

An improvisational experiment in partnership with the Barbican Centre

Let Me Play the Lion Too saw Told by an Idiot use their trademark working practices to tackle the lack of diversity on stage as part of the Sky Arts Art 50 initiative.

In an intensive two week residency in The Pit, a group of 12 performers, six of whom have a disability, worked with us to devise new improvised evenings of anarchic spontaneity. The process enabled artists to develop their theatre making skills, and to push their imaginations and creativity in new ways, whilst looking to affect change in the wider arts infrastructure.

Let Me Play The Lion Too was part of Sky Arts Art 50, a landmark project to commission 50 artworks that explored what it means to be British in a post-Brexit Britain.

Art 50 was a partnership between Sky Arts, the Barbican, Sage Gateshead, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Storyvault Films.

'In a new partnership with the Barbican we announce our unique project entitled 'Let Me Play The Lion Too'. This will bring together twelve performers of exceptional promise, with an equal mix of those with a disability and those without. An intensive two week period of improvisation will empower them to take responsibility for their own creativity, and will culminate in evenings of anarchic spontaneity.' Paul Hunter, Artistic Director of Told by an Idiot.

Let Me Play The Lion Too was supported by Arts Council England, The City of London Corporation, Sky Arts 50, The Rayne Foundation and The Boris Karloff Charitable Foundation.