HIS SPREAD LEGS (Paris) 
In Autumn 2022, the French production of 'His Spread Legs' was revived by performer Etienne Gaudillère in an abandoned chapel in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, in a double bill with Matthieu Bonicel's 'Witches & Queens'. 

VENUE: Chapelle Sainte Jeanne D'Arc, Paris 
TEXT: Ben Webb (trans. Jonathan Roux) 
PERFORMER: Etienne Gaudillère    

HIS SPREAD LEGS (Lyon)
In spring 2016, I worked with performer Etienne Gaudillère and translator Jonathan Roux to develop a French translation of His Spread Legs. This was performed at the NTH8 theatre in Lyon.  You can find out more about the project here and here.

VENUE: NTH8
TEXT: Ben Webb (trans. Jonathan Roux)
DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMER: Etienne Gaudillère    

LOVE ALREADY
This R&D project explored the formal challenges of staging Marguerite Duras' extraordinary and anarchic 1974 play India Song. Alongside this we explored an embodied approach to access for visually impaired audiences.

Love Already was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

VENUE: Ovalhouse
TEXT: Marguerite Duras (trans. Barbara Bray)
DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Chris Bone, Jonathan McGuinness, Emma Pallant, Will Wheeler
SOUND: Adam McCready
LIGHTING: Tom Cooper
COSTUME: Pam Tait
AUDIO DESCRIPTION: Daniel Coonan
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Tamara Camacho
YOGA: Kirsty Wood


THE WELL & BADLY LOVED
The Well & Badly Loved is a queer extravaganza of love and loss. The trilogy comprises So Little of You Left, His Spread Legs and The Actor Has Told of His Pain. Each play is formally inventive and offers a fresh perspective on the story of a love affair. They draw on a rich history of gay and queer theatre, whilst simultaneously pushing the form forward.

The Well & Badly Loved was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and the Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.

The Well & Badly Loved is published by Oberon Books. The trilogy was translated into Spanish by Mariano Ruiz in 2013 and performed in several venues in Mexico City as El Bien Y Mal Amado. His Spread Legs has been translated into French by Jonathan Roux as A Fleur De Peau.

VENUE: Ovalhouse
TEXT & DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Sean Hart, Jonny Liron, James Murfitt
PRODUCER: Andy Thompson
SOUND: Becky Smith
LIGHTING: Tom Cooper
MOVEMENT: Imogen Knight
DESIGN: Christopher Hone
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Mario Valerio                                      


SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO
A public reading celebrating the poetry and politics of Adrienne Rich. 
"The moment of change is the only poem" - Adrienne Rich

VENUE: Ovalhouse 
TEXT: Adrienne Rich
DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Samuel Collings, Carys Lewis, Sophie Steer


GO NOW
Haunted building, haunted bodies. Go Now is a short, sharp play about a girl and her ghost. It was originally produced as part of Glasgow's Arches LIVE 2011. 

VENUE: Glasgow Arches
TEXT: Ben Webb
DIRECTION: Alice Butler
PERFORMERS: Eilidh McCormick, Ashley Smith      


HIS SPREAD LEGS 
When your love story comes to an end, you don’t have a choice. You just have to get over it. Don’t you? And yet in His Spread Legs, the lover returns again to the scene of the crime. He’s compelled to tell the story again, for better or for worse: like the title’s spread legs, his account of events is blatant and ambiguous at once. It remains flagrantly, insistently, demandingly open. It refuses to end in either laughter or tears.

VENUE: Tara Arts Studio (London), Bike Shed Theatre (Exeter)
TEXT & DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Max Hutchinson in London and Simon Carroll-Jones in Exeter)
TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Fergus Waldron


SO LITTLE OF YOU LEFT
So Little of you Left begins as a traditional poetry reading and rapidly disintegrates into physical theatre, almost dance-like, happening somewhere beyond language. It combines flashes of poetry, children’s games, compelling physical risk and bold imagery to tell the story of a love affair from start to finish. All sweat and physicality, So Little details the marks that love leaves on our bodies.

VENUE: Ovalhouse, Hat Factory, People Show Studio
TEXT & DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Sam Collings, Sean Hart (the part of Tom was originated by Simon Carroll-Jones)
TECHNICAL DIRECTION: Fergus Waldron


THE KATHY ACKER MOBILE LIBRARY
A public celebration of the work and legacy of Kathy Acker , with readings from a range of her vibrant and vital texts.

VENUE: Poetry Café, Canal Café 
TEXT: Kathy Acker
DIRECTION: Ben Webb
PERFORMERS: Jennifer Jackson, Simon Carroll Jones, Kimberley Wintle


PHOTO CREDITS
El Bien Y Mal Amado: Mariano Ruiz
His Spread Legs: Claire Bilyard
Kathy Acker Mobile Library: Ben Webb
Love Already: Tom Cooper & Adam McCready
So Little of You Left: Francesca Seeley & Fergus Waldron
The Well & Badly Loved: Elyse Marks