Gallery 5: The individual and Society, Britain 2002

Camden People's Theatre

Version 2 was born out of a desire to take Little English deeper, to gauge out the innards of what 'national identity' really meant to us and develop our devising techniques in the process, based on the experience of Version 1.

Another six performers came on board, this time with less obvious cultural differences and apparently more work to find the stories. This time, imagination fused with memory, and individual perspectives eeked out a warm, entertaining and unexpected encounter with the human reality behind the political concept of nation. When cacophony exploded, and no-one could be heard, the performers gambled for the right to tell their story alone.

A different ending every night, unfolding amid the sharing of belongings and wine with a bemused, disorientated and challenged audience, gathering together in a new community, whilst Camden leaked in through the doors and turned the museum inside out.

"[Little English was a] fascinating encounter between behaving as a gallery audience, and as a theatre audience [in which] performances were surprising, spiky, idiosyncratic".

- Ben Harrison, Theatre Director - Grid Iron Theatre; Former Associate Director - Almeida Theatre.