A Tale of Two Cities
Overlapping language links together like a constant song. Voices rest atop dramatic violins and dialogue builds up into a haunting refrain sung pitch perfect by the actors, in between scenes to indicate the passing of time.
Jessica Baxter (Edfringe)
A Tale of Two Cities: Blood for Blood
A ‘thrilling production’ for stage by Jonathan Holloway with a ‘beautiful and mesmerising ‘ original score and sound design by Sarah Llewellyn.
Performed in Hong Kong at the Jockey Club and the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016. The show has been translated into Cantonese and was performed with a Hong Kong cast in spring 2023. More about this production here
Show Teaser
Credits
Written and directed by Jonathan Holloway
Produced by Chung Ying Theatre
Music. sound design and music direction by Sarah Llewellyn
Designed by Neil Irish
Sarah produced a dynamic electro-acoustic score combining live vocals on stage, with pre-recorded music and sound design. Featuring Francesca Simmons on violin and musical saw. “the scene changes via singing chorus and the sound design were absolutely mesmerising”
Sarah Llewellyn’s haunting vocal score, sung by the cast at intervals throughout the narrative, gives the sense of powerful forces at work – love, revenge, and civil unrest – unstoppably driving events down a devastating path
Simon Fearn for Litro Magazine
The scene changes via singing chorus and the sound design (credit to Sarah Llewellyn) were absolutely mesmerising. Enhancing the ensemble energy, it was excellently paced and was an exercise in aural spaces, filling the theatre with ominous feeling and anticipation…..the captivating story that leaves you with a hauntingly bittersweet echo of romance and tragedy.
Joe Optimistik
Listen
Carton's Theme
Love and Loss: A Tale of Two Cities
The Bastille
Live Show Extracts
Madame Defarge
Voices echo from the back of the stage, haunting music punctuates the action and subtly changing lighting takes us to dark places
4 * Stephen Bates for thereviewshub
The piece is beautifully underscored …. subtle and eloquent and is the perfect setting to the performance
5 * Caragh Aylett for Edfringe
sounds of broken hearts resound in the amphitheatre. Music is also integral in this adaptation. Sarah Llewellyn, who is the Composer and Sound designer, has created a electric-acoustic score; ‘with distinctive music helping to illustrate the passing of time and the journeys within the play’. .. It is soft and captivating. The actors themselves performing the vocal chorus on the edges of the stage….This is an expertly devised adaptation …… It is refreshingly staged and emotionally gripping
Jutine Denning for hkELD