New company Fuse Theatre launches with a tour of hit show Follow the Signs
Written by Chris Fonseca and Harry Jardine with all original music by Yacoub Didi
Directed by Harry Jardine, dramaturgy by Kirsty Housley
Dancer/choreographer Chris Fonseca, director Harry Jardine and producer Sian Weeding announce their brand-new company Fuse Theatre, a CIC seeking to create innovative and groundbreaking British Sign Language (BSL) led accessible and inclusive theatre. The company launches with the announcement of its inaugural production, the tour and London run of hit show Follow the Signs.
Tobacco Factory Theatres, Bristol: 4 – 7 September 2024
Leeds Playhouse: 12 – 14 September 2024
SohoTheatre, London: 24 – 12 October 2024
HOME Manchester: 5 – 9 November 2024
Fuse Theatre’s Co-Artistic Directors Chris Fonseca and Harry Jardine and Creative Director Sian Weeding first collaborated on the original production of Follow the Signs, initially developed during lockdown and premiering to acclaim at Soho Theatre in August 2022. Alongside this 2024 London run and tour of Follow the Signs, Fuse Theatre’s activity includes A Night In Sign cabaret events showcasing the UK’s most exciting high-profile and emerging Deaf and Hard of Hearing talent, and an R&D with the Bush Theatre, which they will continue to develop later this year.
A fully BSL-led hip-hop gig theatre show, Follow the Signs is performed through BSL, rap, spoken English, movement, and creative captioning, to be shared and celebrated by Deaf and hearing audiences together. It tells the story of acclaimed dancer and choreographer Chris Fonseca: from infanthood when he lost his hearing after contracting meningitis, through a school system unable to value his differences, into teenage years where music and dance entered his life, to meeting Raffie Julien, a mixed-race Deaf woman whose lived experience seemingly couldn’t be more different.
