HOLY DIRT is a bold new outdoor work by Vidya Thirunarayan, directed and designed by David Glass. Commissioned by the Without Walls Consortium, the production will tour flagship festivals in summer 2026, including Brighton Festival, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, and Indian Summer.

 

An international co-production, HOLY DIRT is set to erupt across the UK, India, and South Korea in 2026–27. Following a highly successful UK premiere in summer 2025, the piece captivated audiences with its fearless theatrical language, visceral imagery, and playful sense of urgency.

 

This exhilarating new adventure brings together theatre, dance, live music, and clay, shaped through the distinctive vision of creative polymath David Glass. Raw, physical, and alive, HOLY DIRT is a sensory experience that transforms public space into a site of ritual, play, and transformation.

 

Holy Dirt: Myth, Mischief, and the Mess we’re in !​

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Holy Dirt is a vibrant, funny, and beautifully episodic performance that playfully explores the mythic feminine as she struggles ridiculously through our climate catastrophe- she stumbles, she dances, she transforms. Clay, stones, water, and sand erupt across the space in a visually startling performance set to a rich global soundscape—where the rawness of earth converges with myth and ritual.

 

At its heart are two entwined forces drawn from Therukoothu, the traditional outdoor theatre of South India: Parashakthi, the primal feminine principle, and Draupadi, a woman of this world navigating the wounds of patriarchy and environmental collapse.

 

Parashakthi is the force of becoming—beyond gender, playful and terrifying, nurturing and wildly creative. She is the invisible thread running through all things: interconnectedness, abundance, and relationality personified. She creates, destroys, and watches—both theatre-maker and amused witness—through the eyes of the audience.

 

Holy Dirt explores how the activism of female climate warriors, past and present, connects to our relationship with the Earth today. A show for all the family, it tackles this urgent theme with boldness, provocation, spectacle, joy, and inspiration.

The piece unfolds through vivid, recognisable movement motifs, making it accessible and engaging for audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

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​​Creative team:

Artistic director and performer: Vidya Thirunarayan

Director and Designer: David Glass

Second performer : Sasha Krohn

Composer : Foz Foster

Production Manager and Stage Manager : Sam Rush

Set Fabrication : Martin West

Producers: Lisa Wolfe, UK; InKo Centre, India

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​For more information please contact Lisa: wolfework2@gmail.com  

Available for booking for summer 2026

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Full film of the show available on request. ​

 

​​We thank the following for supporting the R&D phase in 2023/24 and their continued support for the production phase. Arts Council England, Certain Blacks, Art Asia, The Indo-Korean Cultural and Information Centre( InKo Centre), India and 101 Outdoor Arts.