Song of the Goat Theatre

SONG OF THE GOAT THEATRE (www.piesnkozla.pl) is a multi-award winning company recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative training-based theatre companies. A distinctive element of the company’s practice and training is the need and search for connection and openness as the root of authentic experience. The work always seeks to integrate movement, voice, song and text, creating a performance that has an inherent musicality and connects with the audience on a sensory level.  Current works include Songs of Lear and Return to the Voice. In addition to their training and performance programs, the company also oversees the BRAVE Festival in Wroclaw, Poland, an annual festival celebrating global ethnographic cultural and performance practices.  


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"Songs of Lear seems to have already passed into legend..." - The Guardian

"Songs Of Lear by Teatr Piesn Kozła (Song Of The Goat Theatre) of Wrocław – which interweaves small fragments of Shakespeare’s text with polyphonic song, carefully choreographed movement and live music – is not only the most deeply affecting show I have seen in Edinburgh this summer, it is also one of the most profoundly moving theatre productions I have ever experienced." - The Herald

"The director, Grzegorz Bral, conducts his company like a classical orchestra. They outperform; reinventing conventional forms of character and plot, and theatre altogether. Though fresh, it is fearlessly archaic in its grandeur. The performance is ceremonial, consecrated and sanctified, rich in the essence of the play.  My five stars were laid bare on outstretched palms, offered in reverence." - Fringe Biscuit

Song of the Goat Theatre are an extraordinary company, and masters of their craft.  Going beyond music that is a joy to listen to, this is a collection of highly evocative and emotionally stirring works and a magical piece of theatre. - Fringe Guru

"We begin with harmony, reflected in soft, rich music. But, as the king makes ill-advised choices, the world slips into discord and the music follows suit, in dark rhythms of clapping, chanting and urgent, piercing incantations. Cordelia’s Lament begins in the faltering voice of a child, gathering strength as she grows in maturity. Absent for so much of Shakespeare’s play, here she is given a voice, and her song is full of the pain of someone betrayed by a person they still love."  - The Scotsman

This is essence of Lear desiccated and condensed; sensed rather than watched and absorbed until it hasn't just got under your skin, but right into your bone marrow.  For the half hour that followed, I was static electricity, too knock-kneed to stand.  It is a full body detox; catharsis pure and simple and transcendent. - Matt Truman/Edinburgh Festival

"The choral singing is powerful from the onset: ritualistic, growing into gut-wrenching torrents of emotion." - Broadwaybaby

"Songs of Lear is the highest ranked performance Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2012"

- The List: Top Rated Festival List