All-day production Freehouse coming to the Samuel Beckett Theatre this month

Pan Pan Theatre are bringing their brand new 'happening', Freehouse, to the Samuel Beckett Theatre this month.

Taking place from May 7-21 (excluding Sunday, May 8 and 15), from 3pm until 9pm, admission is only €5 and audience members can come and go as they please. Why not pop in for a dose of drama?

Featuring live music, film, death masks, kitchen sinks, nerf guns, diaries and more; Freehouse was created by a group of Andrew Bennett, Aedín Cosgrove, Leon Henry, Clare Howe, Faith Jones, Gareth Jones, Ros Kavanagh, Signe Lury, Anthony Morris, Gina Moxley, Gavin Quinn, Mary Sheehan, Anna Sheils and Simon Shroeder.

Pan Pan was founded in 1993 by Co-Artistic Directors Aedín Cosgrove and Gavin Quinn. The company has created 43 new theatre and performance pieces and toured worldwide, receiving multiple national and international awards. Freehouse provided a new challenge to the experienced team, who aim to work in the most collaborative manner possible to curate brand new formations of art.

"What you're actually getting with Freehouse is a series of events happening in the space: music, interactive experiences, live actors on different days, film and even audio diaries that the actors made in the rehearsal period," Pan Pan's Gavin Quinn told Hot Press.

"It's quite different than anything you'd have seen before. There's about 14 different aspects you can delve into. You can stay for five minutes or you can stay for five hours," Gavin adds. "It's the idea of a 'free house' - remember when you were a teenager and you'd go to your friends' gaff and anything could happen? You'd talk, drink, listen to music and meet new people. I found that space growing up to be hugely creative. You could be yourself and talk about absolutely everything. People could discuss existential, pseudo-intellectual questions with their friends but over everything, it was just great fun."

Andrew Bennett in Pan Pan Theatre's production of 'Freehouse'. Photo by Ros Kavanagh.

"Overall, it's a totally unique type of installation. Pan Pan had been thinking about this project for a number of years, before we eventually got together a group of actors that we'd worked with before — like Anna Shiels, Gina Moxley, Faith Jones — and thought about the notion of Peter Pan Syndrome and the importance of 'hanging out'," the Dubliner continues. "Doing nothing is vital at times. We got together last June to do a rehearsal, and I decided that we'd all write a diary to explore 99 different tasks that I set up. Collaboratively, we all made this piece as one unit."

Pan Pan tries to approach theatre as an open form of expression and has developed an individual aesthetic that has grown from making performances in a host of different situations and conditions. All the works created are original, either through the writing of new plays or through the totally unique expression of established writings.

"With Pan Pan, we don't really work as part of a hierarchical structure," Quinn tells me, referring to the assigned roles of director, assistant director, producer, etc.  "We all came together to dive into the concept of a 'free house' from your childhood but also the philosophical idea. Do we ever get a chance to go into a space and do nothing anymore? We researched a lot of different things comparatively, like books you might read as a teenager and the experience growing up in Ireland. We made a sort of exhibition based on all of that. It's a lot of aspects that speak to each other. The whole Beckett Theatre will be transformed from May 7 onwards."

Since its formation, the company has toured in Ireland, UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Korea, Australia, New Zealand and China. Pan Pan has consistently examined and challenged the nature of its work following its inception in the early '90s, resisting the urge to settle into well-tried formulas.

"Pan Pan Theatre have been going for 30 years," Gavin says, proudly. "We wanted to make experimental performance from Day 1, and we like to change our projects. We've always tried to do interesting experience for the audience. Pan Pan aim to create exhibits created by a collective of people, meaning that we all work towards making the best decisions for the piece. Some people speak more than others, but everyone's contribution is equal. It can be hugely rewarding."

With a noteworthy clan of acting talent taking part in Freehouse, does Gavin have a performer he's most excited about?

"They're all great performers, but the youngest is always exciting. Faith Jones has only done one show with us, The Sleepwalkers, when she was a member in DYT. Now she's in her early twenties and it's fun to have her," Quinn smiles. "She features in the film. It's amazing to see the next generation collaborate with experienced actors. Sometimes there's a 45 year age difference between the cast. To me, the inter-generational conversation is just brilliant."

Freehouse will take place from May 7-21 at the Samuel Beckett Theatre, from 3pm-9pm daily. Book tickets here.

F R E E H O U S E ▪️ The attempted suicide of representational theatre. ▪️ The true story of Peter Pan Pan. ▪️ Book now at https://t.co/dkCaFAA9G9#FREEHOUSE pic.twitter.com/esiFb38EDq

— Pan Pan Theatre (@panpantheatre) April 27, 2022