Inspired by Paula Rego’s Dog Woman paintings, THE HEAT by Becky Namgauds is a visceral dance theatre piece that fractures the expectations of the home as a place of comfort.

Set in a surreal domestic dreamscape where the familiar warps, something primal is seeping out — dark psyches uncoil, desires smolder, and absurdity slices through the ordinary.

The domestic space becomes unstable — a place where comfort and confinement blur and where tension verges on erupting.

With wild hair, bared teeth and raw physicality, an intergenerational all-female cast conjures striking imagery that bring the audience on a journey through an unflinching portrait of the wild forces just beneath the surface.

THE HEAT features music specially composed by Domenico Angarano, intricate set and costume design by Linbury Prize-winning production designer Yimei Zhao and lighting design by Zoé Ritchie.

Read the freesheet

Listen to an audio introduction of the show

Header image description: Against a black background, a young dancer with long dark hair perched on the edge of a worn, light beige sofa. The sofa is angled dramatically, as if it is being lifted upward at one end.

Header image © Camilla Greenwell