The commission is part of our Practicing Performance programme which debuted in 2023 with a new operatic work developed with artist Rachel Jones. Practising Performance provides support for visual artists who are interested in exploring live performance.

With our support Simeon Barclay developed The Ruin over a year-long period that included R&D conversations with artist, performance maker, researcher and designer Moi Tran and theatre designer Agnes Treplin to explore performance and staging.

The Ruin features a poetic text written and performed by Barclay alongside live percussion by James Larter and horn by Isaac Shieh to investigate British identity, in relation to masculinity, race and class. The piece introduces Barclay’s own history growing up in Huddersfield with Caribbean parents and reflects on the post-industrial landscape and society of northern England in the 1980s and 90s.