VISITORS to Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) are invited to check into Electric Hotel for a stay they won’t forget.
For four nights during SIRF, the Electric Hotel will be open for business and you can make a reservation to catch a glimpse of the lives of the guests already booked in.
Stockton Council is delighted to be presenting SIRF, now in its 23rd year and during July 28 to August 1 tens of thousands of visitors are expected to head to Stockton to enjoy five days of world-class street theatre, dance, circus and breathtaking aerial shows.
Acclaimed London production company, Fuel, brings Electric Hotel to SIRF from 28 – 31 July at 10pm at Bath Lane East Car Park, just off Church Road.
The hotel will materialize in the car park as it is cleverly constructed from shipping containers lifted into place by crane. When complete, the four storey Electric Hotel measures 65 feet wide and 45 feet high. Transporting it to Stockton is no mean feat either as in total it weighs a massive 48 tonnes!
On the top floor is an outdoor swimming pool and nightclub; on the lower floors are corridors and rooms inhabited by an intriguing mix of guests.
The seated audience of 500 per evening, wear headphones with amazing stereo binaural sound to eavesdrop on the internal spaces of the buildings, watching the Hotel’s residents in their private rooms. Lives are glimpsed, motivations guessed at and the outlines of a disturbing plot slowly appear.
SIRF is one of only a handful of festivals nationally presenting the Electric Hotel during summer 2010. Performances have so far taken place in Norwich, Brighton, Bristol and London. Theatre goers in Bristol paid £18 for the privilege of seeing this show – visitors to SIRF can see this nationally acclaimed production for free.
Jan Doherty, Stockton Council’s Festival Co-ordinator, said: “Electric Hotel will be one of the real must see shows of SIRF 2010. It really is an impressive sight and the show provides an intimate experience for the audiences as they enjoy the visual spectacle while hearing the audio through their headphones.”
Electric Hotel was co-commissioned by Sadler’s Wells and outdoor theatre consortium, Without Walls. Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive, said: “Electric Hotel sees Sadler’s Wells continuing its endeavour to take dance outside the walls of theatre and to unusual and unexpected places.”
The Guardian calls Electric Hotel ‘thrillingly intense…rich and rewarding’ while The Independent says it’s an ‘eerily compelling experience’.
