Preview: A Dog's Heart @ArtCtrWton #theatre #comedy #freakish

Perfect Fools present

A Dog’s Heart

Arts Centre Washington

Thursday 6^th February at 7.30pm

Perfect Fools are about to be let off the leash as they embark on a tour of the North East with their latest production A Dog’s Heart. The show is an adaptation of the classic Russian novel by Mikhail Bulgakov and is a visually inventive retelling of the story of Sharik, a lone stray on the streets of Moscow.

A Dog’s Heart visits Arts Centre Washington on Thursday 6^th February, the first date of a 5 venue tour across the North East taking in Hexham, Barnard Castle, Seaton Delaval and Alnwick along the way.

Described by the Northern Echo as ‘Genius! Barking mad and doggedly funny’, A Dog’s Heart tells the story of Professor Preobrazhensky, a world-famous cosmetic surgeon who makes his fortune rejuvenating Moscow’s aging elite. When he meets Sharik, a starving stray dog, he finds the raw material he needs for his greatest experiment yet.

With shades of Frankenstein, Faustus and Dr Moreau, A Dog’s Heart is a freakish tale with a bitingly satirical slant and, although set in the Soviet Union in the 1920’s, the show has many modern day reference points and throws the spotlight on our penchant for plastic surgery, our growing influence on genetics and our hell bent desire to halt the aging process.

The production introduces theatre-going audiences to new dogs on the block; Newcastle based theatre company Perfect Fools, a company with extensive experience in clowning and improvisation. The company have trained with some of the best names in the business including Jacques Le Coq, Philippe Gaulier and the late great Ken Campbell.

Combining comedy, clowning, and a cleverly written script this production won an Outstanding Performance Award at this year’s Prague Fringe Festival and is a quirky, fast paced piece of theatre that has been completely self-funded by the company themselves.

A Dog’s Heart is Perfect Fools first full length touring production and Co-Artistic Director Mark Labrow said ‘We’re hoping that with this production our reputation for making, stylish, inventive theatre and for telling stories in a playful yet meaningful way will cemented and we’ll quickly become top dog’s in the region for our unique brand of theatre.’

Get along to the Arts Centre Washington for what proves to be a theatrical treat, you’d be barking mad to miss it.

“Wonderful. Theatre with a capital T.”

Radio 4’s Kate Fox

A Dog’s Heart comes to Arts Centre Washington on Thursday 6 February, 7.30pm.  Tickets are £8.50 / £6 (conc) and are available from www.artscentrewashington.co.uk or by calling 0191 219 3455.

Perfect Fools are actor and mime Gordon Duffy-McGhie, director and dramaturge Rob Bullard and producer and director Mark Labrow. This creative team have recently joined forces as a production company to develop and showcase their own madcap productions and to support the work of other talented theatre makers in the North.

Artistically Perfect Fools create visually inventive, irreverent and comically clown like productions that engage the audience through wonderful writing and stunning storytelling techniques. Heavily influenced by the clown, the fool, improvisation and play, Perfect Fools take universal stories and brings them to life in a fantastical and fun way.

For more information visit www.perfectfools.co.uk