Align is a two-man show lasting for two hours, not including intervals. It’s an hallucinogenic lecture on London history, prehistory, modernity and geography written by Robert Kingham and Rich Cochrane. Robert tells the story, which is illustrated with hundreds of arresting visual images. Rich provides an atmospheric musical soundtrack. The whole event is immersive, informative, speculative, alarming, engaging, confusing, contentious and fun.

Align gets its structure from a ley line that is said to run across the centre of London, along which one finds many points of historical interest. In using a ley line, however, we raise the question of ley theory and provide, in parallel, a history of that theory as a product of twentieth century modernity. Since ley theory concerns prehistory, we also reach right back into the Neolithic. In the end, however, we find a different story from any of these; the line leads us to an extraordinary story of nineteenth century imperialism, hope, exploitation and idealism. All of these strands are interwoven to create a rich tapestry of ideas, images, personalities and events.

If you’d like to book Align for your venue or event, please email Rich in the first instance. The venue will need a screen and projector for the visuals and suitable amplification for the sound (usually a PA system).

The performance can be done as four 30-minute segments separated by short intervals, giving a total runtime of about 3.5 hours, which works well in a venue with a bar. A more conventional arrangement would be two 60-minute segments with a single interval, giving a runtime of 2.5 hours.

If all this sounds a bit much, please do feel free to contact us about giving a more low-key or shorter talk on any of the topics touched on in the performance.

bigideas
Align is a Production of Big Ideas Initiatives