Light, sound and Kae Tempest’s Brand New Ancients

Kae Tempest’s Brand New Ancients finds myth in ordinary lives. BSA’s production, adapted by Florence Espeut-Nickless and directed by Denzel Westley-Sanderson, gave that world a revolving stage and a powerful electronic pulse.

The graduating company performed at Tobacco Factory Theatres from 20–22 November 2025. Hugo Dodsworth’s lighting and Daniel Jarvis’s sound design were central to its atmosphere, placing the spoken text within a shifting landscape of light and bass.

Reviewing for Bristol24/7, Harry Mayes praised the design and the production’s assurance while questioning its balance between spectacle and character. His description, “occasionally uneven, but undeniably arresting”, captures both sides of that response.

It is a production to return to through its sound and design as well as its performances: an ensemble tackling poetry whose rhythms resist a conventional dramatic shape.

Sources: Bristol24/7.