“...Better be with the dead whom we, to gain our peace have sent to peace, than on the torture of the mind to lie in restless ecstasy...”
Macbeth – Act III, Scene II
Restless Ecstasy is an international performance arts company. Formed in 2013, our aim is to bring thrilling, fresh and challenging experiences to our audience, and explore the potential of live theatre to provoke, inform and elucidate as well as to entertain.
Our working influences include The Polish avant-garde tradition of Teatr Pieśń Kozła (Song of the Goat Theatre) and The Polish Laboratory Theatre, Eugenio Barba’s Odin Teatret, Ireland’s Loose Canon Theatre Company, Antonin Artaud’s principles regarding the Theatre of Cruelty, the political theatre of Bertolt Brecht, classical Russian psychological theatre and the more vaudevillian “plastic” theatre of Konstantin Raikin’s Москва Сатирикон (Moscow Satyrikon).
Through exploration of these diverse role models we derive our interest in the immersive, the didactic, the lyrical, emotional and psychological power of live performance – in all forms – to throw light into dark corners of the human soul, and to reflect back the innermost truths of our collective experience.
Our Symbol
For our company insignia we have chosen the “Man in the Maze”, a traditional motif originating with the Tohono O'odham Native American people. Said to represent Iʼitoi (or Iʼithi), the mischievous creator god who resides in a cave below the peak of Baboquivari Mountain (part of the Tohono O’odham Nation). The symbol is usually rendered – as in this example – as a unitary spiral line forming a circular maze, the twists and turns of which are thought to represent a person’s path through life, with choices and experiences providing new directions. At the centre of the maze, a person supposedly finds their hopes and dreams, at which point they given one final chance to reflect upon the path they have travelled before moving to the next realm. As a company that is acutely concerned with reflecting diverse human experience, we find this labyrinthine metaphor highly appropriate to our work.
Owen Lindsay
Owen was born in Dublin, Ireland and grew up in New Zealand. He attained a BPA (Perfoming Arts) from Auckland University, and an MA Classical Acting from Drama Centre London.
Directing credits include: Great Expectations (VETA, Vienna), Толік-молочар (InAviva, Kyiv), An Inspector Calls, The Effect (Open House Theatre, Vienna), Skin Tight, Slaughterhouse, Normal, Antenora (Restless Ecstasy, London and Dublin), plus the operas Suor Angelica and La Clemenza Di Tito (Giornata Opera, London).
Acting credits include: Romeo and Juliet (English Theatre Düsseldorf), Tartuffe, Julius Caesar (Prague Shakespeare Company), Sherlock Holmes: A Study in Scarlet, Much Ado About Nothing, Brothers of Thunder (Open House Theatre, Vienna), Someone to Watch Over Me (Human Compass, Cardiff), The Comedy of Errors (Clock Tower Theatre, Cardiff), King Lear (National Theatre London), See How They Run (G+G Productions, London), 1984 (Selladoor Theatre, UK Tour), Othello, Macbeth (The Venue Theatre, Ratoath), Wozzeck (Daguerrotype Theatre, Dublin), An Inspector Calls (Scarlet Cloak, Dublin), A Midsummer Night´s Dream, Spring Awakening (The Company of Angels, Auckland), Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night (Auckland Summer Shakespeare).
Besides these exploits Owen is also a proficient fight choreographer. His production of Skin Tight, at the New Theatre, Dublin, in 2019 was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award in the movement direction category.
Anne Marie Sheridan
Irish mezzo soprano Anne Marie is one of the founding members of Restless Ecstasy. She trained at the Conservatory of Music Dublin where she received the Paul McNamara gold medal for excellence in performance and subsequently graduated with an MA in advanced vocal studies from the Wales International Academy of Voice.
Roles include First Mother Dead Man Walking and Handmaiden Turandot (Opera Ireland), Fiordiligi Cosi fan tutte (Longborough Opera Festival on tour), Vitellia La Clemenza di Tito (Giornata Opera), Angelica Suor Angelica (Zêzere Arts Festival), Melva Sortilegio (Sortilego Opera Montréal). CD credits include The Silver Hound: songs by Betty Roe.
Anne Marie’s acting credits include A Christmas Carol (Open House Theatre) and The Suitcase (Open House Theatre). Anne Marie recently reprised the role of Sofie Moriarty the The Suitcase for the 60th anniversary season of Vienna’s English Theatre.