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Playing Fields

Playing Fields is The Chop’s latest touring work that looks at land through a youth-driven, outdoor, participatory sound performance.  Created using interviews led by youth ages 13-18 about land use, ownership and belonging, this aural performance features voices of teens from Richmond (BC), Whitehorse (Yukon), Dublin (Ireland) and Hong Kong. The youth groups learn interview, editing and recording skill and ask each other the questions they want answered. The focus is about the land they live and play on, and its meaning to them.

Playing Fields uses sport as a creation entry point, but the focus is on where the game takes place: the field itself. This is also the place where the show happens. The recorded audio interviews are interspersed with prompts for the audience on the field – each wearing individual headsets – who are led through a series of movements that accumulate into a group choreography inspired by a field game.

Concept by: Emelia Symington Fedy, Andy Field, Deborah Pearson & Anita Rochon

Past Presentations

Development partners & Commissioners: 

Dublin Theatre Festival, Hong Kong Arts Festival, PuSh Performing Arts Festival & Yukon Arts Centre

Initial development was sponsored by A New Conversations grant, an initiative of the British Council, The High Commission of Canada in the UK and Farnham Maltings. We partnered with UK-based Forest Fringe artists Andy Field and Deborah Pearson, developing the beginnings of this project.

  • Emelia Symington Fedy & Anita Rochon – Direction
  • Nancy Tam – Sound design & music composition
  • Lisa Mariko Gelley & Josh Martin / Company 605 – Movement design
  • Arthi Chandra – Outside eye and tour manager
  • Ira Jordison – Technical director
Contact for Booking

Overhead field image by Wilian Justen de Vasconcellos, show photos by Allison Kung