We’re thrilled to share that The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady will be BSL interpreted by @jacquibeckford_bsl_interpreter on Sunday 17 May.
@pettra.bsl.interpreter explains what to expect from the show.
See you on the dance floor💃
‘The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady’ Clod Ensemble in collab with @nucivilisationorchestra
16 & 17 May, @brighton_dome Corn Exchange
As part of Brighton Festival
#britishsignlanguage #accessiblevents
Under 3 weeks to go. Saturday night is sold out!
Experience Mingus’ provocative masterpiece, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady on stage, in motion, and on the dancefloor. Following sell-out runs at @shoreditchth and @barbicancentre , the production now brings its electrifying energy to @brightonfestival 2026.
In this explosion of sound and movement, Clod Ensemble & @nucivilisationorchestra@tom_warriors transform @brighton_dome Corn Exchange into a vibrant cabaret venue, with a live jazz orchestra and dynamic dancers. Dance alongside the artists or soak up the electric atmosphere from the bar. Wallflowers welcome.
“You’ll leave feeling like you’ve not just seen a show, but lived a vibrant, slightly unhinged dream.” @afridiziaktheatrenews
The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
Brighton Dome Corn Exchange
16 & 17 May 2026 | £25 tickets available for Under 30s
BSL Interpreted by @jacquibeckford_bsl_interpreter 17 May
Step into the music 🎺
Clod Ensemble and Nu Civilisation Orchestra bring The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady to life in a performance where you can meet live music and movement right on the dance floor.
Created in 1963, Charles Mingus’ big band masterpiece draws together jazz, blues, flamenco and experimental sound into a work that still feels bold, sensual and impossible to pin down. Here, a 12-piece band and outstanding dancers open it up as something to be felt as much as to be heard.
Whether you come ready to dance or simply want to be carried by the music, everyone is welcome.
Under 30s tickets available. Sun 17 May is BSL interpreted by Jacqui Beckford.
Sat 16 & Sun 17 May, 8pm | Brighton Dome Corn Exchange
Last month, we welcomed a new cohort to ‘Catalyser’, our flagship artist development programme.
Led by Clod Ensemble’s Artistic Directors, this year’s intensive brought together 18 young people across London boroughs to focus on socially applied practice.
Participants explored how their creative skills can connect meaningfully with people and communities beyond traditional arts spaces, from healthcare and education settings to social care contexts. Sessions unpacked key areas including facilitation, workshop planning, producing, accessibility and creative health.
Thank you to all the associate artists and facilitators who generously shared their skillsets and ideas.
Until next year✨
‘Catalyser’ 2026 has been generously supported by the City Bridge Foundation, the D’oyly Carte Charitable Trust and The Finzi Trust.
📸 Safia McCook @photographyfoundation
This May, we’re back in the groove with @nucivilisationorchestra@tom_warriors The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady as part of Brighton Festival @brighton_dome
The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady is a seminal album from jazz pioneer Charles Mingus. Mingus always envisioned dance accompanying his provocative masterpiece.
To honour that vision and bring Mingus’ music to life for a new generation, Clod Ensemble’s dynamic dancers join Nu Civilisation Orchestra, led by MOBO winner Peter Edwards and featuring their Artistic Director Gary Crosby OBE on bass, for a celebration of the sensuality and power of jazz.
Join us on 16 & 17 May. We invite you to share the floor with outstanding artists as we transform the stage into a vibrant cabaret venue. There are special £25 tickets for under 30s.
“an irresistible invitation to… let the music move through you” ★★★★★ Guardian
“something magical” All About Jazz
Celebrate the sensuality and power of jazz as we team up once again with Nu Civilisation Orchestra to present Charles Mingus’ iconic 1963 masterpiece, ‘The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady’. ✨💃
Following sell-out runs at Shoreditch Town Hall and Barbican Centre, the production now brings its electrifying energy to @brightonfestival 2026.
Lose yourself in the music, get up and dance or take a seat and soak up the atmosphere with a drink. Everyone, including wallflowers, is welcome.
Recommended for ages 16+.
Find out more info and book via the link in bio.
Last Thursday, participants from @clod.ensemble ’s Catalyser programme joined us for a workshop with Rachel Sale and the energy in the room was brilliant! 💥
Through quick-fire portrait drawing (five minutes, no overthinking), marble mazes built from tubes and collaborative problem-solving, the group explored play, focus and connection.
Rachel @golden_kiwi_fan then flipped the script, inviting the young people to teach us through games, warm-ups and dances. An exchange of practices: a reminder that knowledge moves in all directions.
This opened up generous conversations about who our “public” is and how shifting that lens means thinking in networks, not audiences.
Find out more about our ways of working and how we’re Queering the Institution through the link in bio.
—
ID:
1: Participants surrounding Rachel Sale in dialogue
2: A photo of hand drawn self-portraits by the participants laid in a circle
3: Video of participants working collaboratively to form the marble maze
4: Several participants hold long cardboard tubes forming the marble maze
5: Video of the participants and Rachel in a movement exercise
Duramaney Kamara is a composer, producer, sound designer and @ear_opener alumni 🎶
He studied A-Level Music at City and Islington College, where he was coached by Paul Clark through the Ear Opener programme. We then arranged a 6-month mentorship and placement for him at the @royalcourttheatre
Today, Duramaney works full-time as a composer and sound designer on West End and major theatre productions. He also releases music as 'D L K' under his own label, BE FREE 888 REPERTOIRE. His childhood home was filled with reggae, jazz and afro-beats, which continue to influence his composition and music production to this day.
We're raising £10K towards the expansion of Ear Opener via @biggiveorg . Support us to reach more young people so that they can have rich careers within the music industry.
🔗 in bio
From the Clod Ensemble Archive
10 years ago we embarked on a tour across the UK, with The Red Chair (2015).
We went to village halls, studios, arts festivals and regional theatres from Soho to Salford, Margate to Malvern, Birmingham to Balintore and even the Isle of Skye.
The Red Chair is a surreal ballad that tells the story of a man who could not stop eating, a wife doomed to cook his meals and their ‘invisible’ daughter. Told in a saucy Scots dialect with a musical score that rolls in like the mist over the hills, The Red Chair lies somewhere between a Grimm’s tale and an absurdist ghost story.
Written and performed by @sarahcam3ron
You can listen to the piece in a three-part podcast on our website - link in bio.
Images
1. The Red Chair Tour 2015, Credit Suzy Willson
2 Illustration by Sarah Cameron
3. Credit @manuelvason
4. The Red Chair book cover, published by Bloomsbury
4. The Red Chair Tour 2015, Credit Suzy Willson
Our studios will be open this week to see ‘Clod Ensemble: How it Moves’ - an exhibition revealing the many textures of three decades of performance-making. See below for details of our public opening times as well as activities you can sign up to take part in @designdistrictlondon@greenwich.peninsula
➡️Wednesday 17
Open for public view | 13:00 - 17:00 (No booking required)
➡️Thursday 18
Open for public view | 12:00 - 16:00 (No booking required)
Research Salon | 17:00 - 20:30 (Free to attend, booking link in our bio)
Delve into the concepts, ideas and questions that have driven Clod Ensemble’s work over 30 years. Aimed at academics, artists, students and researchers with an interest in dance, performance, archives and creative collaboration.
➡️Friday 19
Open for public view | 13:00 - 17:00
➡️Saturday 20 Archiving as Creative Practice | 11:00 - 13:00 (Booking link in our bio)
In this workshop Clod Ensemble will present their recent experience of creating an archive which gathers and shares their distinctive interdisciplinary approach to devising performance. Led by Suzy Willson, Artistic Director of Clod Ensemble, Lotte Allan, Clod Ensemble Archivist, and Valerie Ebuwa, Independent Artist & Clod Ensemble Associate.
🔗For more information head to the link in our bio.
Image Credit: @angryjalebi
The studio enjoyed the opportunity to work with @klaudstudio to produce the display cabinets and archive storage units they designed for @clod.ensemble . These were used to present the archive celebrating thirty years of the Clod Ensemble with their exhibition How it Moves at the studio.
#exhibtionbuild
#vitrines
#exhibitiondesign
#displaycases
#cabinetry
#installation
Much of Clod Ensemble’s performance work explores the relationships between our patterns of movement and the spaces which we inhabit - within our bodies, our homes, our places of work, our cities, states, countries and continents.
From performances which take place across an entire town or city (‘Red Ladies’), in a giant jam jar (‘Under Glass’) or the vast Turbine Hall at Tate Modern (‘Silver Swan’); through productions which explore anatomical structures and spaces within one woman’s body (‘Must’) or dissect theatrical space (‘An Anatomie in Four Quarters’) - each space Clod Ensemble works in demands a different response, and the choreography for each of our performances is defined by the constraints of the space it occupies.
‘MUST - The Inside Story’ takes a poetic journey through the interior landscape of Peggy Shaw’s body - excavating the memories and images contained in the joints and layers of bone.
‘Red Ladies’ responds to the geographical location in which it takes place - its architecture and its people.
‘Silver Swan’ is a lament featuring a choir of seven unaccompanied singers and a chorus of nine performers who repeatedly fall to the ground. The audience watch these figures from above.
In ‘Under Glass’ the performers are all contained in various vitrines - a jam jar, a test tube and a petri dish.
In ‘An Anatomie in Four Quarters’ the audience carve a path through the auditorium of a large theatre, changing viewing positions until they find themselves on stage.
Images from works are on display in ‘Clod Ensemble: How it Moves’, 12-20 September at Clod Ensemble Studios. Visit our website for exhibition times.
Image credits:
1. Manuel Vason
2. Reg Hollands
3. Hugo Glendinning
4. Manuel Vason
5. Hugo Glendinning
