New from Fevered Sleep this Autumn: ‘Time Keeps The Drummer’

Following their acclaimed performances, Men & Girls Dance (2019) and We Are Not Finished (2021), Fevered Sleep return to The Place with Time Keeps The Drummer– a new co-commissioned production that playfully invites audiences to slow down and experience time differently.

Time Keeps The Drummer is a durational show for family and adult audiences, performed by 10 children and a single adult percussionist. It playfully invites you to slow down and experience time differently. To step into a space where time is fluid, joyful and chaotic – full of wild abandon and limitless possibility.

This brand-new show was commissioned by WestKin Hong Kong, premiering there in April 2025, and is now embarking on a UK tour. For each show, a new cast of children is recruited from the local area, making each performance different from the last and unique to each venue.

Through improvised movement, text, projection, music and lighting, each performance unfolds as an unrepeatable experience, directed live and shaped in real-time. At moments, it feels like a theatrical show; at others, it’s a dynamic live gallery installation.

Alongside soaring, evocative music by award-winning turntablist Mariam Rezaei, a single adult drummer plays a motion capture drum kit through the entire performance, improvising percussion in the air. The ceaseless beat of the drums, heard exclusively through headphones, represents the relentless passage of clock time.

This 5-hour performance invites you to experience time on your own terms. It’s a show that evolves throughout the day, offering an opportunity to slow down, to linger, and to rest. Audiences are free to come and go as they please throughout the duration of the piece.

Time Keeps The Drummer is part of The Place’s autumn season. It runs Fri 12 – Sat 13 September. Book Now.

Photo by Winnie Yeung @VisualVoices