CODE: Bike stunts & captivating theatre in new tour tackling county lines

Justice in Motion presents:

CODE

UK tour announced

ADRENALINE FUELLED GRAVITY DEFYING SHOW

REVEALS THE GROWING ISSUE OF COUNTY LINES HAPPENING UNDER OUR NOSES

The phone vibrates…a message…times, numbers, deals…and a warning. All in code.

So young and so troubled. At home, in school, on the street. There’s no way out – is there?

Told with the energy and excitement of athletic choreography, and incorporating mesmerising bike stunts performed on a specially constructed outdoor set, CODE tells the story of how drug dealers are using children to operate their trade, under our noses, within our communities, outside our knowledge. This is a new show from physical theatre/dance company Justice in Motion, a company fast establishing itself at the forefront of creating large scale physical theatre, focussed on tackling vital contemporary social issues.

CODE will be performed outdoors in Newbury, Oxford and the Kensington and Chelsea Festival in August, with many more dates to be announced over 2023-24.

Across the country, newspapers are reporting the drug trading of criminal gangs in both urban and rural areas. This practice is called ‘County Lines’ in reference to the mobile phones used to organise illegal drug orders and deliveries across local authority boundaries. The work has been created to reveal the plight of vulnerable, exploited teenagers (and sometimes even younger children) who are lured and coerced into becoming part of this underground industry.

CODE combines highly physical parkour athletes, stunt bike riders, and theatre performers, to tell a gripping story hidden in the shadows of everyday life. The narrative is all pulled together and performed by popular Sheffield-based artist, rapper, and actor Marcus ‘Matic Mouth’ Smith, whose lyrics explore the insight of someone with personal experience of the themes of the show. The young protagonist ‘Nicky’ will be played by 14-year-old Esra Marmet in his very first professional acting role.

The energetic, breath-taking, pulsing, visually stimulating performances tell an unforgettable tale of one young person who falls prey to a gang. Groomed with gifts and coerced with threats, their victim takes on the dangerous business of drug running. The result is a visually stunning, breath-taking, and mesmerising piece of theatre.

Since the government County Lines Programme launched in 2019, 3,500+ county lines have been closed, 10,200+ people have been arrested, 5,700+ individuals have been referred by police to safeguarding. In the last year alone, 1,000+ lines have been closed and the government aims close a further 2,000 lines by March 2025. But the battle is far from won, and young people are still at considerable risk.

The debut tour of CODE raises awareness by helping to demonstrate tell-tale signs of this youth exploitation helping their friends, families, carers and educators to spot where they may be a problem. In some of the touring locations, Justice in Motion will run a youth engagement programme, working with at risk and affected young people to explore the impact of county lines and knife crime. Together, they will study the themes of the show creatively, and learn skills in parkour, movement, and theatre-making. The young people will be given the opportunity to create small bespoke moments within the show, and perform these alongside the professional cast.

CODE has been made possible thanks to public funding from the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and support from 101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space, Oxford City Council and Transend Skatepark.

ABOUT JUSTICE IN MOTION

Justice in Motion is a physical theatre company that sheds light on social injustices. Productions have explored modern day slavery and exploitation, rape, migration, loneliness, conflict and poverty. Through live and digital shows, talks and exhibitions, they reach out and touch as many people as possible, of all ages and backgrounds. Young people, professional artists and enthusiasts can discover ideas, skills, physical expression and wellness in their classes, workshops and residencies.

The company raises awareness, inspires debate, action and change through high quality work with audiences and participants, creative collaborators, fans, donors and funders.

CAST

Esra Marmet – ‘Nicky’

Esra Marmet was born in Bern, Switzerland, on 5th June 2009. He loves sports in all kinds of variations: he plays football, tennis, trains in parkour, goes climbing, loves to skate and takes every opportunity that is given to him to jump, run and play. He’s not hesitant to take on a challenge. This is Esra’s first professional acting role.

Marcus ‘Matic Mouth’ Smith – ‘Narrator’

Marcus ‘Matic Mouth’ Smith is an MC/Rapper/Artist/Actor from Sheffield. The lockdown of 2020 gave the thought-provoking M.C. time and space to pen his thoughts on the high-profile social injustices occurring amidst the backdrop of a worldwide pandemic. This is brought to you in the form of a new solo album titled ‘Here Comes The Pain’. Though many may know him primarily for his music, recent times have seen him embarking on an artistic journey of painting, collage and performance art. Working closely with other artists, lecturers and community leaders, Marcus uses his “platform opportunities” to create a voice of equality and an awareness of situations less fortunate than our own.

George Mayfield – ‘JP’ and ensemble

George has over 18 years’ experience in Parkour, being one of the early adopters when the sport landed in the UK from France. Known for his raw and explosive style, George has travelled the world meeting parkour communities, has placed 5th in the World Freerunning Championships, performed in film, TV and live performance, and coaches through London Parkour Academy. He joined Justice in Motion in 2018 as a performer for ON EDGE without previous theatre experience and has learnt on the job as well as attending workshops by David Glass and Gaga. He is also an experienced skateboarder and cliff diver.

Krystal Dawn Campbell – ‘Mum’ and ensemble

Krystal is a freelance physical performer, creator and collaborator. She has worked and continues to work with various UK dance companies and independent artists, using her physicality and creativity to create live and filmed performances. She also choreographs, directs and performs in her own works. Krystal’s professional training involved three years full time on the BA Hons Contemporary Dance programme at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, graduating in the summer of 2019 and going straight into the Jasmin Vardimon UK Summer Intensive six-week professional development programme. She joined Justice in Motion for the 2020 digital video project MOVING TOGETHER.

Euan Beaden – ‘Teacher’ and ensemble

Euan is 28 years old and has been riding trials for the last 15. He started out competing at a low level but quickly found his true calling in the urban environment with the more freestyle ‘Street Trials’. Euan’s been a member of numerous display teams showcasing all over the UK, performed stunt riding in the 2018 film ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and even stunt doubled for Harry Hill in 2017! Alongside this he satisfies a full-time job as a CNC Machinist with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Owen Gawthorpe – ‘Dad’ and ensemble

Owen is a 26 year old professional trials bike rider, with 4 British championship titles to his name. He has performed hundreds of shows all over the world for the last 8 years, as well as representing GB at world championship events.

CREATIVE TEAM

Anja Meinhardt – Artistic Director

Anja, born in Germany, originally trained in musical theatre then specialised in dance and physical theatre, later developing skills in capoeira and aerial dance. She founded Justice in Motion in 2013 to create productions designed to make a difference. CODE, as with other Justice in Motion productions, breaks boundaries by using non-theatre disciplines to tell stories of social injustice, creating new shows, offering new touch points to young audiences.

Chris Evans – Associate Director

Chris is a performer and movement director who works with some of the UK’s most groundbreaking dance and theatre companies. Chris was a founding member of the Hofesh Shechter Company, has worked with Lost Dog Theatre and is a core member of multi-award winning Gecko Theatre. Graduating in dance, he has since focused his practice on Physical Theatre and story driven work. Chris also worked with Justice in Motion on our previous production ON EDGE, which explored exploitation in the construction industry.

Rehearsal Director – Michael Lynch

Michael is an actor and independent filmmaker from Doncaster, based in London. He joined Justice in Motion (2019) as a performer in ON EDGE before working as a filmmaker and director in the launch of their MOVING TOGETHER project (2020). Michael’s work has received national recognition through winning the Samsung Spotlight Award (2021) with a self-directed short film, ‘Mime’. As artistic director of physical theatre co. Project Lockout (est. 2017) he continues to experiment within theatre and film, having self-produced a series of shorts (A Creativity Decanter) in addition to directing music videos for Berlin musician, Sable.

Set & Costume Designer – Celia Perkins

Celia is an award-winning Theatre Designer, working as a freelance set and costume designer in the North West. She trained in Theatre Design at Croydon College and The Slade School of Fine Art. After moving to the North West to work for The Library Theatre Company, Manchester, as an Assistant Scenic Artist, Celia began her long association with the Oldham Coliseum, beginning as the Design Assistant, becoming Resident Designer and regularly returned to design for their annual pantomime, including Aladdin, for which she won the 2022 Pantomime Awards Best Costume Design and a nomination for her set. Recent designs for dance include Kapow Dance Company, Company Chameleon and Damaedance. Celia is a part-time lecturer at Salford University. Other work includes designs for: Mikron Theatre, Contact Theatre, Feel Good Theatre, Bolton Octagon, Arden Theatre School, Kindred Theatre, Hard Graft Theatre Co, Oldham Theatre Workshop, Panto Ever After and dance pieces for the choreographer Susie Crow at the Burton Taylor Theatre in Oxford and The Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler’s Wells.

Set Creation – Splinter Scenery

Splinter Scenery have over 20 years’ experience of building sets for film TV and theatre. Every set is thought through and designed by in house draughtsmen who also manage the job right through to the get in. Recent productions include Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap 70th anniversary UK tour, Wodehouse in Wonderland UK tour (Cahoots Theatre Company Ltd in association with Jamie Clark Theatre), Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, The Musical (Phil McIntyre Live with Global Creatures), Relatively Speaking UK tour (Theatre Royal Bath), Derren Brown Showman Apollo Theatre, David Walliams’ Demon Dentist UK tour (Birmingham Stage Company).

Composer – Quentin Lachapele

Quentin Lachapele is an established London-based composer. He has worked on a varying range of exciting and acclaimed projects across film, theatre, documentaries, TV and promotional campaigns, as well as collaborating with bands and producers on records. His music has underscored TV shows around the globe and his compositions are often featured in trailers and adverts. Quentin most enjoys writing soundtracks for films and theatre as he relishes “being a storyteller and guiding the audience through the piece”. As well as a collection of short films, He composed the score for the award-winning feature film Wasp. Originally from the South West of France, Quentin moved to London to pursue his studies in music at the London College of Creative Media where he is now a part-time lecturer. Quentin has worked with Justice in Motion previous productions CONTAINED, ON EDGE, MOVING TOGETHER and RESISdANCE.