Much ado about loving

Nigel Charnock's physical take on Shakespeare's sonnets hits the UK

For his improvised physical-theatre show Fever, Nigel Charnock will deliver lines from Shakespeare's sonnets while singing, dancing and holding forth on love, sex, death and God. " Fever is about something different every time I perform it," he says, and despite the sonnets being the backbone of the show, the content is always changing. "Although I return to the sonnets, I spend most of the time talking about whatever springs to mind. The sonnets feature more in some shows than in others, depending on how the evening goes."

For his improvised physical-theatre show Fever, Nigel Charnock will deliver lines from Shakespeare's sonnets while singing, dancing and holding forth on love, sex, death and God. " Fever is about something different every time I perform it," he says, and despite the sonnets being the backbone of the show, the content is always changing. "Although I return to the sonnets, I spend most of the time talking about whatever springs to mind. The sonnets feature more in some shows than in others, depending on how the evening goes."

Charnock is currently artistic director of Helsinki Dance Company. Having trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance, he co-founded DV8 physical theatre before going solo. His most recent improvised solo show, Frank, was commissioned by the Venice Biennale. Fever was commissioned by Radio Bremen in 1998 for the Pro Musica Nova Festival. It has toured in more than 50 performances throughout Europe since, including the Venice Biennale in 2001.

So, what sort of movement can we expect in Fever? "It is physical theatre - I'm not interested in repeating pretty shapes. If I'm heartbroken, I will probably throw myself against a wall or at the audience. In Venice, I ended up standing at the open exit door in my boxer shorts with the rain pouring down, shouting, 'I love you!'."

Charnock's performance is driven by the music, a string quartet by the German composer Michael Riessler that is a mix of Elizabethan, baroque, jazz and new music. For this one-off UK performance of Fever, Riessler has written a new score. To ensure an improvisational element to the show, Charnock stays well away from music rehearsals, and the composer will improvise on the clarinet and saxophone over the top of his score. Riessler has collaborated in the past with artists such as Steve Reich, David Byrne and John Cage, and founded the ensemble Le Bûcher des Silences in 1991, to combine jazz with folk and contemporary music.

Riessler's ensemble is the Solid Strings quartet, led by Sonia Slany who also leads Electra Strings, on the BBC's Later with Jools Holland. Slany has written arrangements for Mark Knopfler, The Cranberries and Björk in the past.

"The sonnets weren't really meant to be performed, but I have chosen the most dramatic and theatrical ones," Charnock explains. "They are easy to understand. The show is like a miniature musical of Shakespeare's sonnets."

To whom Shakespeare was actually writing these love sonnets remains a mystery. It would seem that the majority were addressed to a younger man, and the later ones to the mysterious "dark lady".

"Shakespeare describes so well what it is like being in love - when it seems like you are losing your mind," Charnock says. "Most people have enjoyed that or suffered that. I think most of the audience will be able to relate to them."

'Fever', Richmond Theatre, London (020-8940 0088), 22 February