Stewart Lee In John Cage's Indeterminacy | The Quietus

Stewart Lee In John Cage’s Indeterminacy

Show this week at Charing Cross branch of Foyles...

Comic, writer and tQ contributor Stewart Lee is appearing in a performance of John Cage’s Indeterminacy on Thursday night at Foyles in Charing Cross, London.

The performance features Stewart Lee reading, Tania Chen and Steve Beresford on objects with Alan Tomlinson on trombone.

The performance will be followed by a Q&A with the performers and author, David Toop.

Describing the event, a spokesperson for the venerable London independent shop said: "Once upon a time, Steve Beresford played Tania Chen the Folkways CD of Indeterminacy, by John Cage and David Tudor. On it, Cage told ninety stories, each one minute long, and, in another room and unable to hear Cage, Tudor played the piano and tapes – originally released on two LPs in 1959.

"Tania liked the recording very much and immediately suggested performing the piece. Steve suggested Stewart Lee to read the stories. Stewart agreed.

The three of them have now performed the piece – trimmed to thirty or forty stories, randomly selected – many times. In their version, everyone can hear each other."

Stewart Lee talked to David Stubbs about Indeterminacy for this site back in 2012.

More details can be found here

Don’t Miss The Quietus Digest

Start each weekend with our free email newsletter.

Help Support The Quietus in 2025

If you’ve read something you love on our site today, please consider becoming a tQ subscriber – our journalism is mostly funded this way. We’ve got some bonus perks waiting for you too.

Subscribe Now