WRITER and storyteller Vayu Naidu has teamed up with acclaimed composer Judith Weir (CBE) and visual media dynamos Yeast Productions to create a spellbinding new work celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's Salt march to Dandi.

Vayu Naidu Company's new creation 'Nothing but the Salt' directed by Chris Banfield is a visually stunning piece of cross-genre theatre, drawing on multi cultural inspiration resulting in a compelling performance that weaves narrative with live music, projections and photography. Nothing but the Salt is the first of an exciting series of new writing by Vayu Naidu Company entitled THOUGHT PROVOKES touring London and surrounding areas during October and November 2005.

Told with lightness and intrigue, Vayu Naidu brings to life the meaning of salt from an array of cultures. Accompanied by a lone cello, Naidu weaves stories of exile, darkness and light from The Ramayana with the history of man's relationship with the mineral; from inception to the historical march for freedom where men and women became literally, 'Worth their salt'.

Said Vayu: "Salt is such an important mineral in everybody's life. It doesn't matter what colour or creed you are, salt unites us all because we all need it.
"When I started thinking about the salt, it made me wonder what it is about this mineral that connects us beings to the earth, a mineral that has become a human rights issue for some people.
"There is so much more to salt than doctors telling people not to consume so much of it.
"With this in mind I have weaved my story thorough the Indian epic of Ramayana to tell the story of salt."


PROFILE

Vayu Naidu is a distinguished and prolific writer, recent work includes: There Comes a Karma directed by Vanessa Whitburn, BBC Radio 4 Drama short-listed for the Richard Imison Award for new writing for Radio, Playboy of the Asian World, directed by Nona Sheppherd and commissioned and produced by Leicester Haymarket Theatre, Nine Nights directed by Chris Banfield and again commissioned and produced by Leicester Haymarket Theatre, When, directed by Vanessa Whitburn for BBC Radio 4 Drama, Future Perfect, part of Contemporary Music Network, When Shakespeare Met Kali directed by Nona Shepphard as part of Kali Theatre Company's Shorts at Soho Theatre, Guess Who's Coming to Christmas? BBC Radio 4 and South directed by Chris Banfield.

Judith Weir CBE is one of Britain's most wide-ranging and prolific composers whose interest in theatre, narrative and folklore has resulted in three full length operas (A Night at the Chinese Opera, The Vanishing Bridegroom and Blond Eckbert; all televised and widely performed in the UK, Germany and the USA). She has collaborated with the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company and Peter Hall Company, working with playwrights including Caryl Churchill and Peter Shaffer. Together with storyteller Vayu Naidu, Judith has created a blend of storytelling and music entitled Future Perfect which has toured England and India, most recently with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (CBSO) From 1995 to 1998 she was the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's Composer in Association; and from 1995 to 2000 she was the Artistic Director of the Spitalfields Festival in London. She is the holder of a Critics' Circle Award (1994) a CBE (1995) and the Lincoln Centre's Stoeger Prize (1997).
Yeast Productions are a London based, multi media production company whose clients have included Channel 4, BBC2 Michael Nyman, Nitin Sawhney, Omar Sosa and Courtney Pine. Currently Yeast are on tour with Matthew Herbert Big Band and the Beastie Boys and are making a film with the Black Police Association and Simon Israel for Channel 4 news. Additionally Yeast run multi media workshops in London and Bristol with young offenders, local communities, schools, and The Architecture Foundation.
Tony Eva is a Cambridge-based photographer whose media work has appeared in The Independent, Evening Standard, Metro and Direct Hit. His work has previously been exhibited at joint exhibitions in London at the Riverside Gallery, City Hall, Piccadilly Tube Station and in Cambridge at New Hall College


TOUR DATES

Mon 10 October 05 Gulbenkian Theatre, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NB
Box Office: 01227 769075, www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian

Wed 19 & Thur 20 Oct 05 artsdepot, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley London
Box Office: Tel: 020 8369 5454, www.artsdepot.co.uk

Thur 27 Oct Croydon Clocktower. Katharine Street, London CR9 1ET
Box Office: 020 8688 9291

Sat 5 Nov 05 Watermans Arts Centre 40 High Street, Brentford, TW8 0DS
Box Office and Information 020 8232 1010, www.watermans.org.uk