Kate Pendry

Kate Pendry has worked extensively with classical acting techniques, technology and experimental techniques based in Bhuto and Grotowksi. With a broad mimetic repertoire, she continues to find new intersections of artistic expression where the experienced actress can expand the range of communicative prowess. Known as an artist who uses the theatrical to comment on contemporary society’s disharmonies, Pendry’s collaboration with composer Steffensen has seen successful works such as Ode To A Mad King (about the inauguration of Donald Trump) marry ‘unperformable’ topics with accessible musical expression (full big band format), taking the narratives into an unpredictable space that audiences seems able to connect to. In The Ballad of Little Wolf, Pendry and Steffensen explore the limits of their ranges as musician and actress. Pendry’s current explorations with biometric technology and the range of ‘sound’ the body is capable of, coupled with Steffensen’s focus on the theatrical, real-time performativity of composition and musicianship, combine to create a mythopoeic space, where with just two performers the room can be transformed by the sonic shadows they create. Little Wolf is a combination of scripted and improvised music and text. Pendry’s recent collaboration with the Lemur ensemble allowed her to develop a considerable vocabulary of vocal expression, where the actress’s voice becomes another instrument in the ensemble – far removed from ‘singing’, yet still connected to text. Steffensen recently explored the twilight world of Dagny Juel’s history in Odille Heftye Blehr’s production Madonna Prosjektet, where he played, and played as Edvard Munch providing a filmic soundtrack to the dramatic narrative unfolding on stage. With Little Wolf, Pendry and Steffensen unite the diversity of their artistic expressions in this concert sprechen-sang, bringing together musicianship and theatricality to create a performance that seeks to nudge the boundaries of the artists’ respective disciplines.