The Dreaming
Althea Young
As dreams of babies invade the waking world of Althea Young, she struggles to understand not only what she wants, but why?
A work of auto-fictional performance, this work-in-progress flicks through dream-worlds consisting of lyrical text, responsive sound, and visceral choreography. In a complex interrogation of reproductive desire and resistance.
As she explores her own ambivalence to parenthood within our state of perma-crisis, she must ask; What makes our lives meaningful? What are we willing to sacrifice? And what is it all for?
Althea Young has been supported by The Workroom, Tramway, and Creative Scotland to develop her show, The Dreaming, originally presented as part of the Present Futures Associateship in 2023. The Dreaming is a choreographic-text based auto-fiction which investigates parental ambivalence in times of crisis, through the perspective of a woman plagued by dreams of carrying babies through post-apocalyptic landscapes.
Hacks supported Althea to secure Creative Scotland funding through the Open Fund to bring together a full creative team for her 2024 residency.
The first half of The Dreaming previewed as part of Buzzcut Double Thrills in April 2025 and went on to win the Autopsy Award 2026. It previewed at Tramway 4 August, before a run at Summerhall, Old Lab 19 - 31st August. You can book tickets here.
It is 60 mins long and suitable for a range of performance spaces.
‘Their performance straddles contemporary dance and live art, and dissects sexual desire and autonomy, the desire for having children, the fear of legacy, and the fairy tales we are force-fed as children. It's lyrical, caustic and rather touching, playing with tropes of lust, gender, family and love.’
Lorna Irvine, The Fjord Journal: World-class Review of Ballet and Dance
To request documentation please get in touch.
Written and performed by - Althea Young, Produced by Hacks, Sound Design and operation - Isaac Orson-Phillips, Scenography and Design - Bex Anson, Lighting Design - Libby Loberson, Production Manager - Sarah Wilson, Dramaturgy - Laura Bissell, Outside Eyes - Dylan Read and Lucy Gaizley, Choreographic Outside Eye - Collette Sadler. Image Credit - Tiu Makkonen at Buzzcut 2025.