Krysta Dennis PhD

Through the Grapevine was a devised theatre experience that functioned as a performed wine tasting. Dennis and collaborator Dr. Roanna Mitchell undertook an unusual devising process with a group of actors from the University of Kent, using the taste and smell of a variety of wines as the stimulus for performance-making. The creative process on this work-in-progress takes as its starting point the idea that wine has memory of its own (terroir)- which is separate from- although of course in dialogue with- the individual’s subjective experience of tasting it. By engaging with the olfactory senses, wine generates a vivid image-response often connected to personal memory. In Through the Grapevine, the creative team translates the image response into a performance that captures the essence of the wine. The audience then tastes the wine, both literally and embodied through the actors’ performances.