A Transport production in development

at The National Theatre Studio

Inspired by the book

WHEN SWAN LAKE COMES TO SARAJEVO by Ruth Waterman

Directed by Douglas Rintoul

Sound by Emma Laxton

Cast includes Ruth Waterman

(working title)

Sound produces effects that persist long after it has stopped. The body is like an echo chamber, responding to sounds by inner vibrations as well as outer attentiveness. Since "the ear has no eyelid", sound cannot be blocked out or ignored: our whole being is involved in listening, just as it is involved in interpreting what it hears.

Inspired by the book 'When Swan Lake Comes to Sarajevo' by Ruth Waterman, INTO THE QUIET is a new devised music/theatre piece about listening.

100 music stands and 100 chairs stand in the space. Amongst these, director Douglas Rintoul (Transport, Barbican and Complicite), classical violinist Ruth Waterman (also performing), sound designer Emma Laxton (Transport, Bush and Royal Court) and four actors weave together narratives of making music, reconstruction, rehearsal, otherness and first hand testimonies of war with a philosophy of listening to create a funny, moving, provocative and deeply profound piece that asks the questions: how do we listen and what does it mean to be listened to?

International violinist Ruth Waterman first met the musicians of the multi-ethnic Mostar Sinfonietta in 2002, and since then has returned regularly to the region, teaching, conducting and performing. When Swan Lake Comes to Sarajevo describes the putting together of concerts despite the odds; the rebuilding of bridges, towns, communities, lives; and how making music can connect us to our essential humanity and to each other. Interspersed are the stories of war and peace by the Bosnians themselves, in their own voices, acts of witness that reveal their courage, despair, resilience and humour.

INTO THE QUIET was generously supported by the National Theatre Studio, where the project was developed in April 2010.