The title of this event will be familiar to many due to the film adaptation of the same novel, ‘The Thing With Feathers’ starring Benedict Cumberbatch and released in October 2025. Following this ground-breaking dance adaptation from Beyond Words, we are delighted to be joined by author of the novel, Max Porter, for a special in conversation with Caleb Klaces . This will be a really special event! 

PLEASE NOTE THE THEMES OF THIS EVENT ARE FOR AGE 14+

A bold new dance-theatre work from Beyond Words, Grief Is the Thing with Feathers reimagines Max Porter’s celebrated novel through an evocative interplay of words and bodies, rendering both Porter’s world and the experience of grief as fully kinetic and alive.

Described as “poignant and vital” by One Dance UK, this daring adaptation follows a father and his two sons navigating the aftermath of sudden loss. At the heart of their grief appears Crow: antagonist, trickster, babysitter – a volatile presence who both wreaks havoc and provokes vital transformation.

Performed by five dancers and accompanied by a powerful original score, the work unfolds through the company’s pioneering movement language, Hypha — a gesture-based choreographic system allowing words to be embodied, disrupted, and remade in real time.

Enriched by context, character, and lived experience, the result is a thrilling interdisciplinary theatre experience combining movement, original music, and striking visual design into a powerful, immersive spectacle. Audiences are invited to witness touch, voice, and the power of shared intention through living, breathing storytelling.

With thanks to Max Porter for his continued support of Helen and the Beyond Words team. Supported by Arts Council England, University Centre Leeds, and Good Grief Festival.

Beyond Words Company website: https://www.beyondwordsdancetheatre.com/hyphamethod

CAST

Dad — Dominic Coffey
Boys — Claire Victoria Lambert, Katie Albon
Mom — Holly Jones
Lead Crow — Jessica van de Koot

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director & Choreographer — Helen Calcutt
Producer — The Middle Floor
Dramaturg — Shelley Eva Hadon
Rehearsal Director — Ayesha Fazal
Composers — Dominic O’Sullivan, Jobe Sullivan, Barnaby Taylor
Music production – Anna Russell-Price
Production Manager — Helen Mugridge
Lighting Designer — Jason Addison
Set & Costume Designer — Emma Williams

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

Helen Calcutt

“This work grew out of a desire to honour the physical presence of words. As a writer, I’ve always felt and enjoyed the inherent movement of written or spoken language, and its potential to arrive in the body and be re-expressed. Max’s text is so physically ‘felt’ by the reader, and the language is so alive in its explorations of grief, it became the perfect starting point for exploring this journey of text into proper embodiment.

Hypha has been our way of ‘stepping into’ the work; physically understanding its world and characters, and expressing our connections to it with a live audience. Bringing Grief… to the stage has been about lifting the entire shape and texture of it into 4D, and making something as visually rich and evocative as the book. Its unique hybrid form is something to celebrate, and our production welcomes audiences to experience it in a freshly charged way. Grief… is menacing, screwy, tender, funny — everything that Crow is, and more. I’m hugely proud of the originality of the work we’ve created, and invite audiences to jump into it with both feet.”

AUTHOR COMMENT

Max Porter

“This short book has been translated into many languages, and into theatre, film and visual art, but it is a genuine revelation to see it translated into dance. Beyond Words’ approach unearths something inside the language. Every gesture is created with stunning exactitude, but it also has a wild strangeness that brings the book’s emotional and animal music thrillingly alive. Seeing this work in progress taught me so much about the relationship between language and the human body. I’m very excited for audiences to see the finished show.”

Beyond Words

Beyond Words is a dance-theatre company founded by Helen Calcutt, exploring the body as a site of language. The company’s work blends choreography, text, and interdisciplinary design to create physically and emotionally immersive performance experiences. Central to its practice is the Hypha Method — a pioneering system of text-to-dance translation.

Timings for the event:

15:30-15:40 Max Porter & Helen Calcutt give a brief introduction to the work

15:40-16:55 Performance

17:15 – 18:00 Max Porter in conversation with Caleb Klaces

18:00-18:30 Max Porter book signing

Max Porter is the author of four novels, including the Sunday Times #1 bestseller Shy, the Booker Prize longlisted Lanny, and the multi-award-winning Grief is the Thing with Feathers. His work has been translated into 36 languages. Porter’s first film, Steve, was released on Netflix in Autumn 2025. He is also the author of The Death of Francis Bacon, praised as ‘a miniature masterpiece’, the short film All of this Unreal Time and the pamphlet It’s Going to Be a Bright New Day with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Max frequently collaborates with musicians, songwriters, artists and theatre-makers.

Helen Calcutt is an award-winning choreographer and poet whose work centres the body as a site of language. Her choreographic practice spans theatre, site-responsive performance, and live production, with commissions including Birmingham Royal Ballet (Curated by Carlos), Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Total Insight Theatre (When I Was 10, dir. Kieran Vyas), Def Motion, Apple (Three Poems), Midlands Actors Theatre (Descent, The Fountain of Light), and the Southbank Centre (Marina). She has performed across large-scale and experimental contexts including Dundu (Giants of Light), Sonia Sabri Company (Sharing the Light), Autin Dance Theatre (Little Amal, The Big Walk), Akeim Toussaint Buck (OKAN), SEH Company (She Swims), and was a leading performing artist in the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony (2022). She is Artistic Director of Beyond Words. Her poetry collections and edited works include Somehow (Verve Poetry Press), anthology Eighty-Four (Saboteur Award shortlist; Poetry Wales Book of the Year), and Feeling All the Kills (Pavilion). She is the creator of the Hypha Method, a pioneering text-to-dance translation system informing research and performance across dance and literature. Her work is funded by Arts Council England, the Society of Authors, and One Dance UK. Her radical dance adaptation of Grief Is the Thing with Feathers received a major touring grant in 2025 and tours internationally from Spring 2026. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters in 2023 from Loughborough University for her mental health advocacy and contribution to the arts.

Claire Victoria Lambert is a contemporary dancer, teacher and Project Manager. A graduate of LCDS & Trinity Laban, she has devised & performed work with; National Theatre, CoDa Dance, Lila Dance & was a Featured Dancer in Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Claire teaches at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire & is a co-founder of Dance Co-Operative Birmingham CIC. 

Dominic Coffey Born in Manchester, Dominic trained at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. After graduating, he joined Jasmin Vardimon’s Professional Development Course, touring with JV2. He has worked with Gary Clarke, Joss Arnott, Rhiannon Faith, Jaivant Patel, Vidya Patel and Think & Tight Dance, performing across the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA.

Holly Jones is a contemporary dance artist based in the West Midlands. She completed her BA Hons Degree in Dance and Choreography at Falmouth University and took further performance training in Hungary. She is an experienced performer in a variety of outdoor and stage productions, some credits include: Sonia Sabri Company, Move & Connect C.I.C, Highly Sprung, Bakani Pick-Up and Corey Baker.

Katie Albon is a Birmingham based dance artist and graduate of TrinityLaban. She regularly performs with FRONTLINEdance, Turned On Its Head, Springs Dance Company and Made by Katie Green, often dancing in libraries, parks and other public spaces. Katie co-founded Eek & Wild, who create vibrant and playful dance for children in hospitals.

Jessica van de Koot graduated with First Class Honours from London Contemporary Dance School and holds an MA from Northern School of Contemporary Dance. She has performed with Sweetshop Revolution, Konstantin Koval, Johnny White, Tim Rushton, Bobbi Lo Produktions, Sita Ostheimer and Richard Alston. She founded VDK Dance, touring internationally with her Greek mythology-inspired work.

Caleb Klaces is the author of the novel Fatherhood, which won a Northern Writers Award and was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize, and the poetry collections Away From Me and Bottled Air, which won an Eric Gregory Award and the Melita Hume Prize. He grew up in Birmingham. His latest novel, Mr Outside, was published in 2025.

Following the performance, author Max Porter will be in conversation with Caleb Klaces discussing Grief Is The Thing With Feathers and his other works.

This event will be BSL interpreted.

Timings for the event:

15:30-15:40 Max Porter & Helen Calcutt give a brief introduction to the work

15:40-16:55 Performance

17:15 – 18:00 Max Porter in conversation with Caleb Klaces

18:00-18:30 Max Porter book signing

This event is part of The Heath Bookshop Literature & Music Festival and is supported by National Lottery Grants Funding through Arts Council England.