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The Chair and the Cello premiered internationally as the opening special event at the ADSA 2025 Conference in Studio 77 at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
This is the premiere of a new performance work. Set over the course of one night, this performance explores ideas of loneliness, isolation and academia. The human need for connection is confronted by the inanimate object: sexy cellos, fascist chairs, and piles of doom. When we are overwhelmed with to-do lists and easy-clean DIY dystopian capitalism, when we are confined in a liminal and uncanny space, what is it that we need to survive? Devised by Hannah Banks, Nicola Hyland and Briony Luttrell with Carl Walling and Lucy Orkild. Performed by Hannah Banks, Briony Luttrell and Lucy Orkild. Directed by Nicola Hyland with Musical Direction / Composition / Sound Design by Briony Luttrell and Lighting Design by Carl Walling. Projection Design by Rebekah De Roo with
Technical Support by Lucas Neal.
"The Chair and The Cello: Developing industry guidelines for practicing creative safety" is a research project to develop an innovative best-practice industrial framework of practitioner wellbeing within the Creative Industries. This research is autoethnographic as the researchers investigated creative safety in the devising and rehearsal process by developing a new live performance. From this we will develop a trauma informed guide/toolkit for industry practitioners who want to engage in creative practice that uses difficult autobiographical
stories.
Review in The Theatre Times. Isolation, Consumer Desire and the Human Spirit: A Review of “The Chair and the Cello” Written by David O'Donnell | 2nd Mar 2026
https://thetheatretimes.com/isolation-consumer-desire-and-the-human-spirit-a-review-of-the-chair-and-the-cello/
Also published in Canadian Reviews https://canadian-reviews.ca/isolation-consumer-desire-and-the-human-spirit-a-review-of-the-chair-and-the-cello/