Common Salt is a performance around a table – a ‘show and tell’.
It explores the colonial, geographical history of England and India, taking an expansive and emotional time-travel, from the first Enclosure Act and the start of the East India Company in the 1600s, to 21st century narratives of trade, empire and culture.
Sue and Sheila activate insights into our shared past, laying out a ‘home museum’ of objects and stories; of the Great Hedge of India, of borders, and collections – all accompanied by original Shruti box laments.
Common Salt is a reckoning; the interconnectedness between history and global power, artefact and trade, nature and memory is hidden in plain sight.
Common Salt is included in our Bear (AKA Full Week) Pass. Click here for more information about our passes.
Credits
Common Salt is a collaborative work by artists Sheila Ghelani and Sue Palmer.
Common Salt is supported using public funds by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Developed with support from b-side and One Final Act by Rajni Shah Projects
Access
Audience are seated throughout but are free to move if needed. Salt, seeds and flowers are used in the performance.
Fierce Says
Give us objects on a table and we are seated. This is, of course, so much more than that: an engrossing, deeply researched dive into England’s colonial history. We can’t wait.