Performance Dork

Performance Dork is a participatory adventure show about being a performance art dork, and wanting to do dorky performance art things. Influenced by 80s and 90s fantasy shows such as Dungeons & Dragons, Jamie’s Magic Torch, Knightmare, and Round the Twist, Performance Dork combines experiences of escape rooms, role-play games, immersive theatre, and performance art festivals. Within the show, Daniel has discovered a bottle of magic liquid that he can pour on himself to take him anywhere he wants to be – and where he always wants to be is doing a weird and bawdy performance art show. Join Daniel and his assistant Andy Spinkle, as he uses his magic liquid to escape from angsty, neuro-boring scenarios such as ‘dad’s drinks’ or ‘being in a reading group’, and emerge into messy, fantastical and rude performance art experiences. Daniel Oliver is a performance artist, lecturer, and researcher. He makes raucous, dyspraxic-led performance worlds with mysterious and complex back stories that audiences are drawn into and take roles in. These worlds can be raucous, deceptively layered and complex, loud, unpredictable, and rude, but also kind, attentive and adaptive to audience experience and actions. His work has been platformed throughout the UK and overseas for over 20 years, including at the Barbican; Tate Modern and Tate Britain; The Yard Theatre, CAC Glasgow, Forest Fringe, Cabaret Voltaire, Zurich; University of the Arts, Helsinki, and Texas A&M University. He is currently an associate artist at Cambridge Junction and a teaching fellow in Experimental Arts and Performance at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He has published writing on neurodiversity, audience participation, and the value of celebrating awkwardness.