Root is a work by Shanna May Breen & Luke Casserly. According the scientists, trees are the key to our planet’s climate revival. Starting from this awareness the artists work to compose a sound experience examining the science, history and future of trees from the point of view of trees. The skeleton of the research and the starting point for the project are the interviews with scientists, geologists and arborists from Ireland, Serbia, Austria and Italy on the impact of trees in our eco systems. Journeying across different cities, bringing local audiences outside of them, the artists will examine the relationship between the listeners and the environment to finally build the soundscape.

The Artists

Shanna May Breen is an Offaly-born Dublin-based theatre maker who is invested in devising theatre with groups of exciting people in interesting places. Previous works have seen her track Ireland’s obsession with alcohol while drinking a bottle of Jameson live on stage at Battersea Arts Centre (London), walking from South to North Iceland to develop a show about “journey” for Sprint Festival (London). Shanna was awarded the Next Stage Wild Card Award in 2018 by Dublin Fringe Festival for The Sound of Phoenix, a travelling soundscape of the Phoenix Park on a moving 1950’s bus. Shanna most recently performed and devised Superstructure, a show about the future of our cities for The Abbey Theatre, Dublin. Shanna completed her MA in ATP Scenography at The Royal Central School of Speech & Drama in 2014 and her BA in Devised Theatre at Dartington College of Art in 2011.

Luke Casserly is an Irish theatre artist based in Dublin, originally from Longford. Luke holds a First Class Honours degree in Drama and Theatre Studies (BA) from Trinity College Dublin. In 2018, Luke Casserly worked alongside German Director Anna Sophie Mahler, where he researched and developed new performance material for The Lonely Trumpet, a piece looking at the connection between propriety and the mysterious events of an orphanage burning down in Ireland in the 1940’s. Luke has worked as a Directing Intern at the Shaubuhne, Berlin in 2018 and has been an Assistant Director to Gavin Quinn on Pan PanTheatre’s production of The Rehearsal: Playing The Dane at the Abbey Theatre in 2018. In 2019, Luke co-curated a two week festival of new plays and performance works at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, as part of the inaugural Abbey Young Curators Programme. Most recently, Luke co-created Mould Into Shape with Shanna May Breen as part of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2019, a travelling documentary soundscape on board a suburban train that investigated our human connection to the material of plastic.

www.lukecasserly.org

Root is a small scall production of the Be SpectACTive! project.