You Need Me are a storytelling company. We are an international company, with a Basque, Catalan and British core team, and in the past have worked with actors from countries including France, Greece, Brazil and Puerto Rico. We tell true stories, taken from our families, our cultures, or anywhere we can find them, and the diversity of our backgrounds gives us an excitingly wide field of reference. All our work is staged in the round with live music, devised by the cast, and conceived and directed by Emily Watson Howes.
You Need Me are an Associate Company of Newbury Corn Exchange.
'A company with the potential to engage theatre-going and non-theatre-going audiences alike in the simple magic of theatrical storytelling' Tom Morris, National Theatre
The majority of the company trained at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA) under Thomas Prattki, and came together after graduation to work on You Need Me's first project, How It Ended. After a sell out run at the Camden People's Theatre in January 2008, the company were selected from 50 companies for a special commission at the Hightide Festival. They created Certain Dark Things, the story of a young Basque boy living under Franco's dictatorship, for the festival in May. In August 2008 How It Ended had a sell out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was nominated for both the Total Theatre Awards and the Stage Awards. The show transferred to the Arcola Theatre in Hackney for a three week run, and went on to tour the UK in Autumn 2009.
Certain Dark Things, You Need Me’s second piece, was extended to a full length show after a period of research and development in the Basque Country. After previewing at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, the show then had a complete sell out run at the Edinburgh Festival, with every single ticket sold. You Need Me were nominated for a second consecutive Total Theatre Award, this time for the prestigious category of Best Emerging Company. Certain Dark Things toured the UK in June 2010.
You Need Me's third piece, Death Song, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival 2011, and is now on tour across the UK. Death Song was commissioned by Arts Council England and the Corn Exchange, Newbury and is produced in association with New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth. See the tour dates page for details of how to book tickets.
For more information on You Need Me's projects in development, contact emily@youneedme.org.uk or Click Here