Matthew Duggan

This is the final week of Three’s Company’s acclaimed 2010 residency at the Tristan Bates Theatre. These guys are friends of mine and bloody good at theatre too!

The multi-award-winning young theatrical trio – behind work such as 2008’s surprise Edinburgh smash hit Auditorium, and the acclaimed Later Showers – are running their flagship production Play On Words, and curating The Reactivity Season, a new festival of interactive theatre, at the subversive central London theatre. In the past two weeks, the company have received great press for Play On Words (winner of the Cameron Mackintosh Award for New Writing and the Buxton Fringe Special 30th Anniversary Award).

The Times described the play as “an ingenious little box of tricks from precocious theatre innovators Three’s Company”, and “a metatheatrical game of dramatic forensics… both smart and funny”. The Stage agree, praising the “clearly inventive company…”, the “anarchic tone, intriguingly breaking down established boundaries” and the “terrifying but impressive tirade”. TimeOut reviewed the piece as “linguistic and conceptual pyrotechnics… light-footed [and] adept at scrambling the act of theatre”, adding that “Crawshaw’s script telegraphs its own artifice with twisty verbal gags and neat symmetries.”

The blogs agree, with strong reviews on AllTheFestivals.com, FringeGuru, Remote Goat and the London Theatre Blog. In summary, “this is short, sharp… just about the perfect format” (The Stage). The bumper final weekend includes the conclusion of their Symposium on Interactive Theatre, with a huge panel of renowned names, including theatre critics Ian Shuttleworth and Roger Foss, the RSC’s Steve Marmion, Esther Smith from The Royal Court’s The Author and BBC’s Material Girl, Stuart Nolan from Hex Induction, plus a variety of artists from companies such as Non Zero One and Three’s Company themselves.

Running alongside the Symposium on Saturday 23rd January are a host of interactive artworks, included in the ticket price. These include Bineural Performance, a one-robot play; The Story Exchange trading books for tales from the audience; Dan Somerville’s beautiful and stirring interactive dance First Piano Concerto; and National Arts Services’ In The Dark, and Three’s Company’s own A Live Transmission of ‘Adventure Time’. Three’s Company are also garnering an extra-ordinary response – during and after the show – for their riotous interactive comedy series A Live Transmission of ‘Adventure Time’.

The thirty minute episodes, performed after Play On Words on certain evenings, follow the hapless Comedy Trio as they try to broadcast episodes of their spoof radio series live. Rebellious technology, jealous DJs, unreliable guest stars and a run of ludicrously bad luck leave the trio calling on the audience for more than just the traditional laugh track… With so many events, plus staged readings and guest performances, the final week of Three’s Company’s residency promises to be the biggest yet. If you’ve not been down, don’t miss your last opportunity to catch this emerging and intriguing company in action.

For Press Tickets and information, please contact: Natalie Eskinazi | 07870 840 166 | natalie@threescompany.co.uk

Images and Editors’ Notes at www.play-on-words.net/press

Listings information

Three’s Company present PLAY ON WORDS Venue Tristan Bates Theatre | 1a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP Dates 4 – 23 January 2010 | press night Tuesday 5 Jan Time 7:30pm (Sundays 4pm) | approx 1hr 05mim Tickets £12.00 | concs £10.00 Box Office 020 7240 6283 | www.tristanbatesthreatre.co.uk

A LIVE TRANSMISSION OF ‘ADVENTURE TIME’ Venue Tristan Bates Theatre | 1a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP Dates 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 20, 22 & 23 January 2010 Time 9pm | approx 30mim Tickets £5 Box Office 020 7240 6283 | www.tristanbatesthreatre.co.uk

THE INTERACTIVITY SYMPOSIUM and THE INTERPLAY SESSION Venue Tristan Bates Theatre | 1a Tower Street, London WC2H 9NP Dates 9, 16, & 23 January 2010 Time 1.30pm – 9.30pm (with breaks) Tickets £10 Box Office 020 7240 6283 | www.tristanbatesthreatre.co.uk