Time Keeps The Drummer

A girl being interviewed by two girls, who sit opposite to her

2023 - Present

Each performance is shaped in real-time, making every show different and unpredictable.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A black girl in white t-shirt and glasses. She is wearing a headphone and playing the electric drum

Alice Underwood
Time Keeps The Drummer R&D Workshop, London 2025.

Time Keeps The Drummer is a durational show for family audiences, performed by 12 children aged 7 to 11, all about time.It playfully asks us to reconsider the ticking of the clock and invites us to step into a space where time is fluid, joyful, chaotic, and full of wild abandon and limitless possibility. 

This brand new show was commissioned by WestK in Hong Kong, premiering there in April 2025.

Through movement, improvisation, projection, music and lighting, these young performers offer their audiences an opportunity to witness an ever-evolving experience. Each performance is shaped in real-time, making every show different and unpredictable. Sometimes it’s like a show; sometimes it’s more like a live gallery installation.

With original compositions by composer Mariam Rezaei, this 5-hour performance invites you to experience time on your own terms. Alongside this music, throughout the entire performance, a single adult drummer playing a motion capture drum kit, improvises percussion in the air. Experienced only through the headphones provided; the drums are the sound of the ceaseless beat of clock time.

Audiences are free to come and go as they please throughout the duration of the piece, to linger, to rest, and to reflect. It’s a show that evolves throughout the day, offering an opportunity to slow down, engage, and enjoy time in all its unpredictable forms.

 
 

What would it be like to experience time through the eyes of children?

 
 

Tour Dates

 

WestK, Hong Kong: 18–21 April 2025 & 25–27 April 2025

The Place: 12–13 September 2025

Arts Depot: 20 September 2025

Fabric: 2 November 2025

Cambridge Junction: 12 April 2026

Meet the team

 

Direction, choreography, design, sound design:
Sam Butler & David Harradine

Music: Mariam Rezaei

Movement direction: Ashley Jordan

Design: Bob Price

Lighting: Hansjörg Schmidt

Production management: Sam Evans

PARTNERS:
Commissioned and co-produced by WestK

UK TOUR PARTNERS :
The Place, Arts Depot, Fabric and Cambridge Junction