Ockham’s Razor, produced by Turtle Key Arts, present "Tess" at York Theatre Royal

Tess uses the original text combined with the physical language of circus, allowing the performers to re-tell the well-known story of power, loss and endurance through a feminist lens. Hardy’s classic novel still has extraordinary relevance for contemporary audiences as it explores questions of privilege, class, consent, agency, female desire and sisterhood. 

Tess features an ensemble of circus performers from diverse backgrounds, five women and two men. The cast includes a female actress and a female circus performer who both portray the character Tess.

The company has a long experience of working with reframing the female body with circus, looking at strength, capability and agency. Tess weaves together acrobatics, aerial, dance, physical theatre and the distinctive simple, evocative design of Ockham’s Razor to create Hardy’s world.

Tess is Ockham’s Razor’s first production based on a novel. The script has been written by Ockham’s Razor using Hardy’s own words, with advice from Anne Marie Casey, an acclaimed novelist and screenwriter who has previously adapted Little Women and Wuthering Heights for the stage.

It captures the poetry of Hardy and the philosophical depth of the novel, interweaving Ockham’s Razor’s signature physical storytelling to tell this gut-wrenching story about the strength to endure. 

The cast of world-class circus performers use their strength and circus language to evoke the physical labour of the novel. They will create Hardy’s Wessex onstage, wielding wooden planks, shifting walls, ropes and swathes of linen to make sets that unfold and which the cast balance upon, climb, carry and construct.

Directors Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney said:

“Tess of the D’Urbervilles has been adapted before for TV and film but it always struck us that the poetry of the book, the radical nature of it and the strength and heroism of Tess was often lost in translation. Over time we became increasingly convinced that circus, and all the physicality of it, would be the perfect medium for capturing all the many elements of the novel. 

“One of the surprises in the creation of Tess is how much joy and humour there is to find in the novel and the staging. There is a seam of joy in there which is captured by the play and collaboration of the ensemble.”

Cast:  Macadie Amoroso, Joshua Frazer, Lauren Jamieson, Lila Naruse, Victoria Skillen, Leah Wallings, Nat Whittingham

Adaptation & Direction: Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney, Ockham’s Razor

Producer: Alison King, Turtle Key Arts

Choreography: Nathan Johnston

Composition, Sound Design and Production: Holly Khan

Design & Equipment Concept: Ockham’s Razor in association with Tina Bicât

Set and Costume Design: Tina Bicât

Lighting Design: Aideen Malone

Projection Design: Daniel Denton

Script Advisor: Anne-Marie Casey

Commissioned by The Lowry, Salford and London International Mime Festival with support from Artsdepot, Shoreditch Town Hall, National Centre for Circus Arts and Bristol Circus City.