Kneehigh Theatre Company

This Drama and Theatre A-Level section explores the practitioner Kneehigh Theatre. Kneehigh Theatre is a highly acclaimed British theatre company, known for its bold, innovative, and visually dynamic approach to performance. Founded in 1980 in Cornwall by Cornelia and Mike Shepherd, Kneehigh has gained a reputation for blending physical theatre, puppetry, live music, and multimedia to create visually rich, emotionally engaging productions. The company’s work often embraces storytelling, adaptations, and a sense of place, drawing on folk traditions, myths, and local culture. Kneehigh's style is eccentric, theatrically adventurous, and deeply committed to audience engagement.

Key Concepts and Ideas

Physical and Visual Theatre:

• Kneehigh’s work is deeply rooted in physical theatre, where movement and gesture are just as important as words in telling the story. The company frequently uses exaggerated, stylised gestures and physicality to express emotions and themes.
• The use of visual imagery is central to their productions. Kneehigh’s theatre often employs puppetry, live projections, and creative set designs to build immersive worlds that engage the audience’s imagination and create emotional impact.
• The use of costume, props, and physical transformation often plays a major role in creating character and setting, reflecting the company’s fondness for non-naturalistic techniques.

Storytelling and Folk Traditions:

• Kneehigh often draws on traditional storytelling, adapting classic myths, fairy tales, and folk narratives into new, contemporary forms. The company's work frequently incorporates oral storytelling, using a range of voices and narrative styles to make the story feel like a shared experience between the actors and the audience.
• Their productions are often rooted in local myths, drawing on Cornish legends and folklore, which is reflective of the company’s origins in Cornwall. This use of regional storytelling allows Kneehigh’s work to engage with issues of identity and belonging, while also making the work feel timeless and universal.

Devised Theatre and Ensemble Collaboration:

• Much of Kneehigh's work is devised, meaning that the production is created collaboratively, often through improvisation and experimentation in the rehearsal room. Actors, directors, designers, and musicians all contribute to the creation of the show.
• The company’s ensemble approach is crucial to its identity, with performers encouraged to take on multiple roles, contributing to both the physical and emotional creation of the production. This collective creation fosters a sense of shared ownership of the work and encourages collaboration and innovation in the rehearsal process.
• Kneehigh's ensemble approach extends beyond the actors, incorporating designers, musicians, and technical staff in a way that reinforces the idea of theatre as a collective experience.

Use of Music and Sound:

• Live music plays a central role in Kneehigh’s productions, often integral to the atmosphere and emotional tone of the performance. The company blends folk music, original compositions, and re-imagined classic tunes to help tell the story and create an emotional connection with the audience.
• The use of music is often interactive, with actors and musicians on stage together, creating an atmosphere of spontaneity and engagement. Music and sound are used to enhance key moments in the performance, whether to heighten dramatic tension or underscore moments of reflection or transformation.

Transformation of Space and Set Design:

• Kneehigh is known for its creative set design and use of space. The company often uses minimalist sets that can be transformed through the course of the performance, with elements such as puppetry, props, and lighting used to build different environments.
• The use of physical transformations (where actors or set pieces change shape, location, or form) allows the production to become fluid and responsive to the narrative’s needs, providing visual metaphors for the themes of change, movement, or passage of time.
• Kneehigh’s sets are often very tactile, encouraging the audience to experience the world of the play through the material and texture of the space.

Humour and Playfulness:

• Kneehigh’s theatre is often characterised by a sense of playfulness and humour. Their work frequently incorporates comedy, from slapstick and physical humour to more sophisticated, ironic wit. This light-heartedness allows the company to explore serious themes (such as love, loss, or conflict) in a way that feels accessible and engaging.
• The humour often comes from a sense of exaggeration and surprise, with actors adopting larger-than-life characters and using visual gags and comedic timing to undercut moments of emotional intensity, thus creating a balance between joy and sorrow.

Interactive and Immersive Theatre:

• Kneehigh is known for creating immersive and interactive theatre experiences that involve the audience in the performance, either by breaking the fourth wall or drawing them into the action.
• The company often challenges the idea of the passive audience, encouraging spectators to engage with the performance in ways that go beyond traditional viewing. This may include actors addressing the audience directly, inviting them into the action, or even using the space in unconventional ways that blur the boundaries between audience and performer.

Key Works

The Red Shoes (2016):

• Based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, The Red Shoes is a visually stunning production that uses Kneehigh’s characteristic blend of physical theatre, puppetry, and live music. The play explores themes of desire, temptation, and consequences through the story of a girl who becomes obsessed with a pair of red shoes.
• The production features a highly dynamic ensemble, with actors shifting between roles, and the set design uses a mix of surreal projections and physical transformations to represent the character’s internal struggle.
• The emotional and physical journey of the protagonist is enhanced by the live band on stage, creating a cinematic experience with a strong sense of physicality and visceral impact.

Tristan & Yseult (2003):

• Tristan & Yseult is one of Kneehigh’s most iconic productions, a bold reimagining of the classic Celtic legend of love and betrayal. The production blends romantic tragedy with moments of humour, combining Kneehigh’s trademark physicality and puppetry to bring to life the emotions of the characters.
• The use of live music (in this case, by the band The Real Ideas Organisation) is integral to the storytelling, with the actors and musicians performing together to underscore the passionate and tragic nature of the tale.
• The play explores love in all its forms: unrequited, forbidden, and devastating, and its emotional depth is matched by Kneehigh's exuberant, physically expressive style.

The Wooden Frock (2000):

• This production is a fantastical reimagining of the classic folk tale, blending humour, pathos, and magical realism. The story of a woman who is transformed by a magical dress is told through a combination of puppetry, physical theatre, and live music.
• The play is a clear example of Kneehigh’s unique ability to create highly emotional, visually striking, and physically dynamic theatre, using the collaborative energy of the ensemble to create an engaging, immersive narrative.

A Matter of Life and Death (2011):

• Inspired by the 1946 film A Matter of Life and Death, Kneehigh’s adaptation explores themes of life, death, and the afterlife in a whimsical and visually rich way. The company uses a blend of puppetry, physicality, and live music to create a fantastical world where life and death are part of an ongoing cosmic journey.
• The production showcases Kneehigh’s distinctive style, with actors using exaggerated physicality and comedic timing to create a light-hearted tone while dealing with profound existential themes.

Theatrical Techniques and Approaches

Use of Puppetry and Physical Transformation:

• Kneehigh frequently employs puppetry and physical transformation as tools for storytelling, whether it is animating inanimate objects or turning actors into creatures or abstract representations of emotions. Puppetry in Kneehigh’s work is often expressive and visceral, with a heavy emphasis on emotional depth rather than realism.

Multisensory Theatre:

• Kneehigh’s use of multisensory elements, such as live music, sound effects, lighting, and visual projections, creates an immersive environment that enhances the emotional and intellectual impact of the production. Their theatre encourages the audience to experience the performance through sight, sound, and movement, making it a highly engaging, sensory experience.

Non-Naturalistic Performance:

• Kneehigh embraces non-naturalistic and stylised performance, where the conventions of realism are often abandoned in favour of a more symbolic and abstract approach to storytelling. This allows them to explore complex emotional or philosophical themes in an innovative and accessible manner.

Summary

Kneehigh Theatre is a dynamic and innovative company that has made a significant impact on the British theatre landscape. Through their unique blend of physical theatre, puppetry, live music, and visual storytelling, they create emotionally resonant, visually captivating productions. Kneehigh’s work continues to push the boundaries of theatrical expression, engaging the audience in a playful yet profound exploration of story, myth, and human experience.