• Photo: Ludo les Cognets, Max Ringham

  • Photo: Ludo les Cognets, Max Ringham

What if…?

A groundbreaking performance combining circus, theatre and visual installation by artist, theatre-maker and Shunt director Layla Rosa.

On the ground and in the air What if…?  is a compelling mixture of aerial movement, video image and live and pre-recorded sound.

What if…?  was born from a personal cultural journey into Layla’s lost Saudi Arabian heritage and explores the image of the veil within contemporary society.

The first stage of the process was developed over a year-long period through collaboration with the Muslim women’s groups, Muslim employees and artists based at Oxford House in East London, initiated by its artistic director Pippa Bailey.

From this research has evolved an emotive, semi-autobiographical performance that reaches out to anyone who has questioned their cultural expectations.

Press

  • '...a production that is so mature and confident in its use of silence and darkness, pace and light'

    Sideshow Magazine

  • Co-Producers

    What if…?  toured in 2009 and 2010 to Farnham Maltings, Southampton’s Nuffield Theatre and London’s Jackson’s Lane.

    Presented in association with La brèche, Lower Normandy’s Centre for Circus Creation. Developed in association with Jackson’s Lane, Farnham Maltings and Shunt.