I am listening to you, getting to know you, marking and honouring you, seeing what you have to say, letting you take centre stage.

Pain and I is a bold and intimate audio piece, exploring the complexities of chronic pain experience through autobiographical text, sound and music. Sarah Hopfinger has lived with chronic back and neurological pain for 18 years, and has largely related to her pain as a barrier to her life and work. For this performance she turns towards her pain as a creative collaborator, exploring it as an unwanted life partner and intimate companion. Pain and I playfully and unashamedly acknowledges the hardships and celebrates the richness of living with chronic pain.

Pain and I originally existed as a choreographic studio performance for a live audience - this audio piece develops the work in a new direction, inviting the listener to reflect on what it means to care for our bodies, ourselves and each other in times of personal and collective pain.

Written and performed by Sarah Hopfinger
Sound design and composition by Alicia Jane Turner
Dramaturgy by Laura Bradshaw

Sarah Hopfinger is an artist-researcher whose work sits between live art, choreography and performance. Her work spans solo performance, intergenerational collaboration, ecology, queerness, and crip practices. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally with organisations such as South London Gallery, Battersea Arts Centre and Earth Matters on Stage (USA). www.sarahhopfinger.org.uk

Alicia Jane Turner is a composer and sound designer working across contemporary theatre and new classical music, who focuses on the raw, visceral affectivity of sound in performance. Her collaborative and solo work in theatre has toured nationally and internationally, and she is currently a London Sinfonietta Writing the Future composer.
www.aliciajaneturner.co.uk

Produced and funded by Take Me Somewhere and Platform, with support from Creative Scotland, The Work Room and Battersea Arts Centre.