The creator of the award-winning THIS IS NOT CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT will bring a brand new surreal meditation to VAULT Festival to caution us all of our impending annihilation.

Performed entirely naked, Adam Scott-Rowley’s YOU ARE GOING TO DIE is a nail-biting descent into the loneliness, pain and existential anxiety of our time. Audiences should prepare to brace themselves for a shared purge, as this show illuminates the darkest corners of the human psyche, kindles compassion in the most unlikely of places, and encourages us to re-emerge from these depths together with kindness and humility.Funny and darkly surreal, the arresting piece explores the awe inspiring unlike likelihood of our existence and encourages people to zoom out of their daily lives to consider the amazing perspective that we are all alive and sharing this beautiful planet together.

Peppered with intense moments, the audience will always be brought back from the darkness with humour, humility, and vulnerability.In this unique performance, Scott-Rowley uses nudity to forma genuine presence with the audience by creating an extremely vulnerable performance. This practice frames vulnerability as an attitude rather than a state, and considers it a strength, not a weakness. Vulnerability is about opening up to our experience non-judgmentally with acceptance and bravery, rather than hiding away or distracting ourselves from what we feel is confronting or anxiety-inducing.The show will explore spiritual concepts such as no-self, as well as aspects of masculinity, queerness, and the solidity of identity.Characters and emotions will be deconstructed live in front of the audience, showing the unusual closeness of extreme emotions such as joy and sorrow, pain and ecstasy and hatred and love.

Where does the idea of “We are all going to die” come from?

I wanted to make a show that touched on the macro issues of life, rather than the micro, and I thought that the fact we are all going to die, would be a pretty good starting point. I also wanted to connect with some of the things that fuel my own anxiety, and existentialism is definitely one of the big hitters! But it’s not a show that’s just about death. There’s a lot of humour in it too and I don’t always deal with death in the show as a literal concept.

The show is a descent into the loneliness, pain and existential anxiety of our time. What does the show explore and what are the messages that you want to show with this performance?

Well the show explores exactly that. I like to create characters that are archetypal that an audience will immediately recognise. They’re sometimes more like tones of a personality or a feeling, that an audience will notice as having in themselves. I’m sure loneliness and pain is something we can all identify with. That all sounds very sad and boring though doesn’t it! The message of the show is ultimately one of compassion and joy and that all we’ve really got in life is each other. But maybe the only way to genuinely recognise this is to go through the shit to find the light?

The performance is entirely naked. How is nudity combined with vulnerability to spread the right message?

The nudity is important because it strips everything back and acts as a symbol of our fundamental connectedness. I hope by removing conceptual (and literal lol) layers that it works as a great leveller and reminds people that there is more that we have in common to each other than there is that’s different about us. Then the natural vulnerability of this as well as using vulnerability as a mindfulness practice, hopefully ties all of these elements together and softens the nudity as something relatable and intriguing for an audience. Our bodies are so odd and funny too – I try to shine a light on this as well!

What is the audience going to experience?

The show is very surreal. It is an hour long dream.

What were the biggest challenges while preparing the show?

I fell off my bike a week ago and have broken both of my wrists! I’m going to do the show come hell or high water but I am a very physical performer so it can be frustrating to feel limited by my body.

How does it feel to be an award winner for a previous performance (“This is not culturally significant”)? Does it create more pressure?

Sometimes I feel that pressure and it usually results in me worrying that this this new show needs to be more like TINCS for audiences to enjoy it, but I’m getting better at just trusting this process and allowing it to be a new experience and very different show. Both for me and the audience.

What are your future plan with the show?

I hope to take it to the fringe (might have to win the lottery), then I have a run in Denmark, then hopefully back to London, a UK tour, and beyond!

Title YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
Dates Tuesday 14th – Sunday 19th March 2023
Tuesday – Friday, 9.25pm
Saturday, 8.55pm
Sunday, 3.10pm & 8.55pm
Social Media @AdamScottRowley @VAULTFestival #YOUAREGOINGTODIE #YAGTD

https://www.adamscottrowley.com/
Box Office Tickets are available from https://vaultfestival.com/events/you-aregoing-to-die/
Creator and Performer Adam Scott-Rowley
Co-creators Tom Morley and Joseph Prowen
Lighting Design Matt Cater
Adam Scott-Rowley

Adam trained at The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). He is an actor, creator, performance practitioner and director. He is the creator and performer behind the multi-award winning and internationally touring show THIS IS NOT CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT. Adam’s creative focus is to kindle compassion in the most unlikely of places. He practises this by defying traditional theatrical norms and creating confrontational, unsettling, utterly ruthless form defying high intensity art. As a practitioner, Adam works at The Danish National School of Performing Arts where he teaches and directs his theatre and performance methodology; ‘The Sensitised Actor’. He has also taught at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, ArtsEd, and the National Youth Theatre. Adam is fascinated by the interplay of mindfulness, creativity, Buddhist psychology, and performance. He utilises these elements in all aspects of his work. Adam is a qualified secular mindfulness practitioner and is authorised to teach mindfulness by the Mindfulness Association; having completed their Mindfulness, Compassion, Insight, and 2-year teacher training pathway. His teaching adheres to all aspects of the UK Good Practice Guidelines, and he holds a Postgraduate Degree in the Studies of Mindfulness from the University of Aberdeen. Adam is currently co creating a one-man show with British theatre director, Ned Bennett (Equus, UK Tour; An Octoroon, National Theatre) for production in 2023.

VAULT Festival

VAULT Festival is the UK’s leading independent showcase of live performance and artistic talent; featuring thousands of sensational performances across Theatre, Comedy, & Live Entertainment, made by the most exciting and boldest artists of our time. Set in bespoke venues across the heart of Waterloo, the festival bursts to life for eight glorious weeks of joyous creativity, adding vibrance and colour to the otherwise dreary deep winter months. We’re the most accessible, sustainable, affordable, and welcoming performance festival in the UK. We value art and entertainment equally, creating a safe-space environment where artists and audiences feel welcome, surrounded by culture created by, and for, them.

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