Clod Ensemble, Under Glass, Hackney Showroom

Originally commissioned by Sadler’s Wells in 2007, Under Glass is a cross between a museum exhibit, a gallery and a laboratory.

This inventive promenade production invites audience members to stroll around the performance space. Here, they will encounter eight dancers displayed within assorted glass containers.

A woman in a jam jar. A couple negotiating their Petri dish like it is a bed. A shy individual trapped behind a glass panel. A man clock-watching in his office. A person on the phone in a test tube observing the disintegration of village life.

All these disparate characters have been extracted from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and placed under glass as if they are specimens to be examined.

Audiences therefore experience Under Glass as a series of individual performance pieces that capture revealing moments of solitude.
In its entirety, the show blends visual imagery, choreography and an original score to create a haunting animated exhibition of human life.


A truly interdisciplinary troupe, Clod Ensemble was co-founded by director Suzy Willson and composer Paul Clark. The company collaborates with dancers, actors, musicians, scientists, architects and orchestras to transform and challenge concepts.

The original production of Under Glass won the 2009 Total Theatre Award for Physical and Visual Theatre.

Eight years later and this reincarnation at Hackney Showroom features reworked music and movement, in addition to having new performers inhabiting each transparent vessel.

Nonetheless, the essence of Under Glass remains unchanged. As science and art collide, we are asked to get up close and personal with the performers; to reflect upon how we view our own and each other’s bodies.

Ask yourself: How do you look?

Age Recommendation: 12+