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The backdrop to both pieces is a concern about war. Breath of Kings was conceived around the time of the Libyan Crisis and takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s Richard II. Speeches from the play and the themes of the warring dukes are an integral part of the show. A female, in the original production Jacky herself and in this performance former Royal Shakespeare Company actress Lucy Tuck, takes the role of Richard and the sole speaking part. Her escorts are played by acclaimed dancer Fergus Early and another talented actor dancer Gareth Farley. The recently devised companion piece Coats and Plays is a response to more recent events. Another three-hander, it combines dance with film and uses a speech from Shakespeare’s Hamlet which reflects on war. Hamlet’s soliloquy "What is a man..." (Act IV Sc. IV) is spoken by the only male performer in the piece, Gareth Farley, who begins his journey on film in a noisy, working urban back street watched by two women Lucy Tuck and Jacky Lansley. All three then gather in the performance area, a contrasting philosophical space, to explore a sense of relationship through dance gesture and silence.