A thrilling new double bill by internationally celebrated choreographer Hofesh Shechter, presenting two distinctly contrasting pieces for our times. One half of the evening is Clowns, a sarcastic nod to our ever-growing indifference to violence; originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater 1 and later produced as a film and broadcast by the BBC to great acclaim. In a macabre comedy of murder and desire, Clowns unleashes a whirlwind of choreographed anarchy, testing how far we are willing to go in the name of entertainment.

As an antidote to the murderous, poisonous energy of Clowns, Shechter’s new creation, The Fix, brings a tender, fragile energy to the stage. It offers a raw and compassionate moment to balance the forces of aggression and violence that press on us daily. A shield to protect us from the noise of life outside, and a place that allows the performers to be fragile, be seen for their utmost human qualities. Violence, tenderness and hope are all laid bare through Shechter’s achingly beautiful, cinematic lens. Performed by his inimitable dancers and accompanied by the epic sounds of a Shechter-composed score, Double Murder explores painful truths and delves into our deepest emotions.

‘They move absolutely synchronously like one big breathing creature’

 -Elizaveta Kolesnikova - Theatre Weekly

‘Remarkably compelling, Shechter’s dancers are again outstanding’

-David Mean - Seeing Dance

‘it twists and pulls on the audience’s expectations until, finally, it embraces them.’

-Rosemary Waugh – inews

Hofesh Shechter is acknowledged as one of the most exciting artists making stage work today, and his distinctive, club and folk-dance inspired style is recognised by dance lovers all over the world. Clowns, originally created for Nederlands Dans Theater, was first performed in the UK by Hofesh Shechter Company in a 2018 film version for the BBC. It is now presented as sister piece and in stark contrast to The Fix, Hofesh’s first new creation for his main company since the worldwide success of Grand Finale (2017).

While Clowns is all pretence – a playful, sarcastic comment on our ever- growing indifference to violence, featuring an anarchic group of performers revelling in Hofesh Shechter’s signature urgent movement style and pounding beats – The Fix takes us into a completely different realm. A calming, soothing antidote to the relentless energy of Clowns, it invites the audience into a space of healing, openness and vulnerability. A space where the players take off their masks and present a moment of truth.

Hofesh Shechter is both a choreographer and a composer, who creates the music for all his creations himself. Before coming to London, he studied music in Paris and was the drummer in a rock band called The Human Beings.

His trademark cinematic scores are exciting, driven and percussive. Double Murder is a showcase for Shechter’s versatility as a composer, contrasting the urgency and intensity of Clowns with gentler, rolling, meditative sounds in his new creation, The Fix.

Hofesh Shechter’s works are not narrative in the sense of telling linear ‘stories’, they react

to and comment on the world we live in. Self-confessed Stanley Kubrick fan, Hofesh Shechter takes a lot of inspiration for staging dance from films and has been attested ‘film director sensibilities’ (The Times).

In 2018, Clowns became his first dance film, produced for BBC Two’s Performance Live strand. In this interview, he shares his experiences of choreographing and film-making for the screen.

Hofesh Shechter Company is a boundary-breaking dance company that produces exceptional work created by Artistic Director Hofesh Shechter OBE, with, at its core, an extraordinary company of internationally diverse dancers. Its mission to create work that feels less like dance and more like life, to share experiences that awaken people in their gut, and matter to their spirit, to inspire and nurture the next generation of dancers and to excite a new generation of audiences from across the world. Founded in 2008, the company’s stage repertoire includes Uprising (2006), In your rooms

(2007), The Art of Not Looking Back (2009), Political Mother (2010), Political Mother: The Choreographer’s Cut (2011), Sun (2013), barbarians (2015) and Grand Finale (2017) , Double Murder (2021) with SHOW (2018), POLITICAL MOTHER UNPLUGGED (2020) and Contemporary Dance 2.0 (2022) performed by Shechter II, its apprentice programme. Hofesh Shechter Company has played in cities around the world including Paris, New York, Melbourne, Tokyo, Berlin, Tel Aviv, Rome, Seoul, Rio de Janeiro and many more. The company collaborates on exceptional, world-leading, large-scale stage and film projects including a revival of Hofesh’s production of Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice at La Scala, Milan (2018), co-directed with John Fulljames; East Wall (2018) at Tower of London, in partnership with East London Dance, Historic Royal Palaces and LIFT; short films - Hofesh Shechter’s Clowns (2018), broadcast on the BBC and POLITICAL MOTHER: The Final Cut (2021); feature films - En corps ( 2022) and LIGHT: Bach Dances (2021) winner of the Fedora – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet 2020, produced in collaboration with Royal Danish Opera. In all our work, we strive to move ourselves, and our audiences, beyond reason. Hofesh Shechter Company is supported with public funding through Arts Council England. Hofesh Shechter Company benefits from the support of BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of its projects. Hofesh Shechter is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells, London and Artist-in-Residence of Gauthier Dance (2021-2023). Hofesh Shechter Company is Resident Company of the Brighton Dome

Artistic Director Hofesh Shechter OBE

Executive Producer Colette Hansford

Associate Artistic Director Bruno Guillore

Director of Finance and Operations Mohima Chowdhury

Head of Development Claire Lee

Head of Production and Touring Adam Hooper

Learning Associate David Steele

Executive Assistant and Senior Administrator Melanie Clark

Producer – Artist Development Lucy Moelwyn-Hughes

Digital, Comms and Content Producer James Shaw

Company Producer Lucy Monkman

General Manager Emma Baker-Griffin

Administrator Mariah De Silva

Producer – Double Murder Jackie Newbould

Finance Officer Denise Middleton

Publicist (UK) Clióna Roberts for CRPR

Choreography & Music Hofesh Shechter

Lighting Design The Fix Tom Visser

Costume Design The Fix Peter Todd

Lighting Design Clowns Lee Curran

Additional Lighting Design Clowns Richard Godin

Based on costume designs for Clowns by Christina Cunningham

Composer Hofesh Shechter