Inside the Speaker

This Image is of an empty stage, before the audience arrive. Chairs are places around the edge, as the audience are on stage with Helen, and she moves around them. In the centre there are 15 beams of light shinning down. They are all dramatically highlighted by the misty haze in the room. — Photo Credit: Joe Fox. Inside The Speaker, Brian Friel Theatre, Bounce Festival, 2017.

Inside the Speaker will take you on a journey of the senses. It invites you to step inside the speaker to experience dance and music differently and it welcomes you to the world of the speaker, partially sighted dancer and choreographer Helen Hall, to explore what we see and what we sense when watching dance, what dance is and what it means to dance. An intimate, beautiful and provocative solo performance which will challenge they way you experience the world.

This work features creatively designed and embedded audio description.

This is a dark image, almost fully black. Helen is lying on the floor on her side. There is a shaft of light coming from above and it lights up part of Helen. She wears a whit top, yellow bottoms and the light glints on the curls in her hair. — Photo Credit: Joe Fox. Inside The Speaker, Brian Friel Theatre, Bounce Festival, 2017.

This image captures Helen mid-air while jumping. She jumps form one square of light on the ground to another. The squares of light are in a grid formation. Her Yellow skirt floats behind her. — Photo Credit: Joe Fox. Inside The Speaker, Brian Friel Theatre, Bounce Festival, 2017.

Show Credits

Concept and design Helen Hall
Choreography and performance Helen Hall
Lighting Design Simon Bird
Original compositionMartin Devek
Sound design Robin Price
Dramaturg Hanna Slattne
Audio Description Consultant Kate Ingram

This work was produced with a commission from Unlimited, supporting the work of disabled artists.

Performed at

Featured in Spotlight on Theatre and Dance NI, as part of the Edinburgh Festival online showcase

Belfast Children’s Festival, Crescent Arts Centre, Belfast, 2020

Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, The MAC Belfast,

Being Human Festival, Brian Friel Theatre, Belfast, 2017

Bounce Festival, Brian Friel Theatre, 2017

Audience feedback

It was so moving. I’ve never experienced live dance like that and I felt so connected to Helen and her story.

It made me consider the importance of trust in our human interactions.

It brought me deep into being – not just waiting and observing, but being.

My other senses were more sensitive than usual.

I became very aware of all my senses and thought a lot about how it would feel to loose any of them.

The work has a stillness and a closeness. Beautiful.

It made me realize how visually dependent I am. How uncomfortable I am depending on sound and how foreign it feels.

Loved it. So glad I came to see, hear, smell.

I am deeply inspired by Helen’s work. It’s the ‘realness’, the deep sense of spirit and heart through her work, combined with an extreme range of movement.