Film / Immersive Theatre / Education / Books

We engineer unique experiences that have the power to raise the numinous within the spectator.

F00lishPe0ple create film, immersive theatre, ritual and live cinema.

F00lishPe0ple was founded by John Harrigan in 1989. We actively engage audiences through immersive theatre, live cinema, ritual and independent film. Spectators must choose their own journey without guidance, which challenges their habitual way of watching art and entertainment in a passive manner. We have been commissioned by the BBC, ICA and Secret Cinema, and have produced our work for conventional theatres, galleries, festivals and site-specific venues. F00lishPe0ple are based in London.

Reviews

ARMAGEDDON GOSPELS

“There are of course some rare and fine films which are both metaphorically and actually magical: much of the work of Kenneth Anger; Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain. John Harrigan’s second film for FoolishPeople, Armageddon Gospels, can resolutely be added to this list.”

Daily Grail - Cat Vincent

“Its message is powerful” and “the Hare is as potent as anything in The Wicker Man.

STARBURST MAGAZINE - Martin Unsworth

STRANGE FACTORIES

“The production fuses the haunting, authentic dreamworlds of David Lynch and the theatrical philosophies of Antonin Artaud....to create a vivid and disturbing reality to powerfully draw in the audience.”

Nick Dawson, Filmmaker Magazine Fall 2013 Issue

“this film not only frightens, but also inspires—neither of which are very easy to accomplish.”

Ain’t it cool news

VIRULENT EXPERIENCE

“Your journey into the mid 21st century will take you from the museum's basement to the roof, and past a dizzying array of disturbing art and challenging performances... I found Virulent Experience both confusing and exhilarating in equal measure, the most intense theatrical event I've attended this year — believe me, it is way, way out there!”

Londoneer

CIRXUS

“The stark and industrial setting for this piece of promenade theatre is instantly eerie and unnerving. The lighting is dim, the space echoes and bizarre characters creep up on you. Harrigan completely smashes down the fourth wall as the audience, walking around the space, become entangled in the piece. The experience is simultaneously funny and disconcerting... much of the excitement of this piece comes from its mystery, so I am loath to give anything else away. Cirxus is a place of the unknown and should remain so for those of you yet to enter this demented playground.”

★★★★ Rachel Sheridan, What's on Stage on 'Cirxus'

A RED THREATENING SKY

“Conceived by FoolishPeople's Artistic Director John Harrigan, the detail and beauty of this work is spellbinding, so that at times one loses all sense of where the performance begins and the truth ends.”

★★★★★ Gabriella Apicella, Remotegoat

“Anyone who has lived at all will find moments that will be personally painful, but this is a fascinating experience and it is performed with such reality by the actors that it is totally absorbing, though sometimes played with an intimacy that you must strain to hear, and then there is the added engagement of chasing after or seeking out new episodes. When Harry meets the missing Pearl (Lucy Harrigan) will he recognize her, and will you? When you do you will probably realise that you've in fact already met her. Is Harry innocent or guilty? Is Ray (Jamie Richards) the sadistic tool of Mr. Qyain or trying to help her? The questions are not so much about them as about you.”

Howard Loxton, British Theatre Guide

DEAD LANGUAGE

Dead Language imagines a future in which the work of art stars like Banksy is so popular that fans trade in the DNA of the artists themselves, creating clone gangs of Emins and Warhols that roam the city. In part, Dead Language is an investigation of the limits of intellectual property rights, but it also a smart and spirited examination of the way that the value of art shifts with time and context.”

Ekow Eshun, Cultural Commentator

DARK NIGHTS OF THE SOUL

“FoolishPeople's Dark Nights of the Soul is a truly unique production. By turns darkly comic, surreal, horrific, genuinely thought-provoking and certainly not for the faint of heart. Verdict: Dark Nights of the Soul is pure Fortean magick. 10/10”

Oll Lewis, Fortean Times

“There are a few times when you are sitting in a place and you have to think 'This is an iconic moment — something really important is happening here.' The Dark Nights is a shout to complacency — it's transgressive and antinomian, clearly inspired by the Chaos magic movement. YET (and it's an important 'yet')... it cries out to the sacredness of the Earth, to the living and alive relationships between people and Nature.”

Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Author