"Good morrow valentine, change your luck and I’ll change mine. We are ragged and you are fine, so pray give us a valentine."
FoolishPeople present 'A Red Threatening Sky' 11th – 20th February 2010 7:30pm, 8.30pm & 9.30pm Tickets: ClubAethereus.com 07597576075 The Old Abattoir, 187-211 St. John’s St, Clerkenwell, London. EC1V 4LS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – LONDON 04.01.2010
FoolishPeople present
A Red Threatening Sky
Written and directed by John Harrigan
Thurs 11th - Sat 20th February 2010
Press night: Saturday 13th February 7.30pm
FoolishPeople present A Red Threatening Sky; an immersive Valentine’s event combining performance, art installation and investigative interaction to create Club Aethereus; a strange and surreal underworld of Gnostic Noir. A place where crime, passion, the sacred and profane all cast one shadow.
Synopsis
The Valentinian. Harry wakes with no memory of how he arrived inside the club. He has been contracted to find a missing person. Pearl.
The Hotel room. Her hands and feet are bound and a hood hides her face. Teddy boy philosopher Roy Boutling watches the prize for the club’s owner. Sebastian Qyain.
The Aviary. The birds song has become distressed. The ornithologist Miss Moreau waits for her lover, a man whose face she has never seen.
The Dance Floor. The showgirls receive a letter from Sebastian Qyain. It contains the revised ending of the Valentine’s show at Club Aetherus, directing them in a horrifying act.
Opening hour approaches under a red threatening sky.
You are invited to enter and investigate the mystery of love’s final destination, in a unique experience honouring the earliest traditions and rituals of courtship, jealousy, union and lust. A Red Threatening Sky examines the nature of love, an unrelenting force which pervades all our lives from the moment we are born until the day we die.
It follows FoolishPeople's sell-out run of The Abattoir Pages, where they partnered with Guerrilla Zoo for their third open-source meta event at the Old Abattoir, and the critically acclaimed Cirxus, which was performed at The Arcola.
Poster Art & Design P. Emerson Williams
Notes to editors:
Not suitable for people of a nervous disposition.
For further information, please contact: Lucy Allin FoolishPeople lucena@foolishpeople.org
ClubAthereus.com
Foolishpeople.org
FoolishPeople present A Red Threatening Sky; an immersive Valentine’s event combining performance, art installation and investigative interaction to create Club Aethereus; a strange and surreal underworld of Gnostic Noir. A place where crime, passion, the sacred and profane all cast one shadow.
The Valentinian. Harry wakes with no memory of how he arrived inside the club. He has been contracted to find a missing person. Pearl.
The Hotel room. Her hands and feet are bound and a hood hides her face. Teddy boy philosopher Roy Boutling watches the prize for the club’s owner. Sebastian Qyain.
The Aviary. The birds song has become distressed. The ornithologist Miss Moreau waits for her lover, a man whose face she has never seen. The Dance Floor.
The showgirls receive a letter from Sebastian Qyain. It contains the revised ending of the Valentine’s show at Club Aetherus, directing them in a horrifying act.
Opening hour approaches under a red threatening sky.
You are invited to enter and investigate the mystery of love’s final destination, in a unique experience honoring the earliest traditions and rituals of courtship, jealousy, union and lust.
A Red Threatening Sky examines the nature of love, an unrelenting force which pervades all our lives from the moment we are born until the day we die.
It follows FoolishPeople's sell-out run of The Abattoir Pages, where they partnered with Guerrilla Zoo for their third open source meta event at the Old Abattoir, and the critically acclaimed Cirxus, which was performed at The Arcola.
Tickets are on sale now for A Red Threatening Sky.
Poster Art & Design P. Emerson Williams
Creative Team
John Harrigan
P. Emerson Williams
Lucy Allin
Tereza Kamenicka
Ruth Middleton
Hannah Druckes
Emma Tompkins
Abbie Yaxley
Listings Information:
11 February - 20 February 2010
7.30pm, 8.30pm & 9.30pm entrance times.
Tickets: £16 Online ClubAethereus.com £19 on door, email tickets@clubaethereus.com, 07597576075.
The Old Abattoir, 187-211 St. John’s St, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4LS
Tonights Hallowe'en performances of The Abattoir Pages are now sold out.
We still have limited availability for Sunday's the 1st of Novembers performances at 4:00pm, 7:30pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm. You can reserve tickets on 07597576075.
The Abattoir Pages closes on Sunday the 1st of November, the first day of the dark half of the year.
The four Abattoir Pages belong to a book which FP will manifest fully in 2010.
Thank you for joining us inside this prologue.
The Old Abattoir, 187- 211 St. John's Street, Clerkenwell, London. EC1V 4LS
“The Abattoir Pages” brings together characters, ideas, images, sounds, smells and senses from the old stories of long ago to give guests of this extraordinary experience the opportunity to understand what lies behind the myths and the people who helped create them. In so doing the authentic and true roots of Halloween are honoured.
To describe this piece as simply a performance seems incorrect, even though there are actors who perform throughout. Neither is it just an exhibition, even though works of art hang upon the walls, nor is it only an installation despite the interactive and sensory nature of the work. “The Abattoir Pages” is something to experience, to feel, and to react to. Artistic Director, John Harrigan has brought together artists working in a wonderful variety of forms, and their work is displayed throughout the venue. Guests are told that these pieces constitute the archive of Helen Mayer, a tortured writer whose work is inspired and shaped by the infamous Abattoir Pages and the information therein. There is a mystery to solve, and a space to explore in order to uncover what these pages may contain, and only through piecing together snippets of information is it possible to fully realise the thrall Ms Mayer casts her readers into. To describe too much more would be both unfair and inaccurate however, as it would be simply impossible for any guest at this strange party to have the same experience as any other. Each hears, sees and feels completely different things, that become personal and which strangely grow in the dark for several nights afterwards.
When we meet Helen Mayer in person, we find that she is in Gwyllt, and it is this state that provides the horror… The expanse of one’s creative mind, wherein people and events that have been constructed overlap with the real, and the space between the imaginary and factual overlaps. This interlocking and interdependence of truth with fact long ago provided the basis of the myths and fables contained within “The Abattoir Pages”. One of the most striking relationships that I reacted to, although other visitors may not even hear or meet them, are a mutually destructive pair of lovers being slowly driven mad by their need for each other and their strange revulsion at themselves. This pairing is based on the true story of a young man around 600 AD who was forced to eat the heart of his lover by his enemy, and who then went mad with guilt, and fled to the woods to live in solitude. The woods, whether mythic, imaginary or real have long provided shelter for those the rest of the world does not or cannot understand, and it is those that have found refuge there that move around “The Abattoir Pages”.
Finding ways to share the story of Helen Mayer’s work has been an ambition of Foolish People’s founder and Artistic Director, John Harrigan, for some time. “The Abattoir Pages” in fact serves as a prologue to Helen Mayer’s final work, “Pleasure” that Harrigan is working towards realising in a similar form. However, “Pleasure” is a full novel, and in breathing life into the four pages that provide the basis for “The Abattoir Pages” Harrigan enlisted nearly 60 artists, performers and designers. “Pleasure” therefore will undoubtedly be his most ambitious project to date.
For that project, John also hopes to renew the mutually respectful collaboration with James Elphick of Guerilla Zoo, who have facilitated the creative realisation of this piece, enabling Foolish People’s Producer Lucy Allin, and John Harrigan to bring “The Abattoir Pages” to the Old Abattoir in Farringdon.
Amongst the work of the twenty-one artists involved in this project are commissioned works, such as the sensational paintings by P Emerson Williams, and intricate masks by Jules Newman as well as pieces that somehow seem to have been waiting for this project in order to find their natural home, such as the dizzying collection of jars provided by Lorraine Clarke.
And although the Old Abattoir is an absolute dream of a place for experimental theatre, it provides its own incredible challenges for anyone attempting to create an atmosphere that doesn’t immediately terrify, but in fact seduces and intrigues through the dark and damp. That this piece achieves that is certainly in part down to the skilful sound design, again by P Emerson Williams, joined by Victoria Karlsson and Atoine Bertin.
When I met John Harrigan the morning after my own experience of The Abattoir Pages, I found that he would not be drawn on how “real” Helen Mayer and her work are, except to confirm that they do exist. There is a mystical force apparent in this work and in Harrigan himself - perhaps heightened by the fact our meeting was held in the abattoir itself, which is no less atmospheric in the daytime.
As an artist he is immersed in his work, and this passion has been gleefully absorbed by his cast of performers who, despite his concerns about their cold toes, insist on performing for over 3 hours in bare feet on stone floors in order to feel more authentically part of the work. This intangible intensity finds itself infecting guests to the piece also, as John tells me of a person who, on seeing John’s vulnerable mute character alone in the dark, felt compelled to stay and hold his hand for over half an hour.
If you are looking for the jumps and squeals of Hollywood horror, then you will not find them in “The Abattoir Pages”. However, a visit may uncover more than you expect or even wish as you wander through the chambers of this most fascinating space. To be given the opportunity to exist even for a short time in these powerful rooms stained with emotion, pain, suffering, and the very basest natures of life is a privilege, and “The Abattoir Pages” brings the voices and spirits contained within those walls out to play. Expectations, desires and preconceptions should be released as you walk through the doorway, and only then may their many mysteries be revealed to you this Halloween.
Article and Review originally appeared at Notes From The Underground.
Guerrilla Zoo and FoolishPeople present The Abattoir Pages, an immersive Halloween event, hosted in a vast, secret subterranean landscape that was once one of London's largest abattoirs.
The Abattoir Pages combines immersive performance, art installation, haunting and treasure hunt-style activity to form a labyrinth of mystery and horror, exposing the earliest Gaelic and Pagan rites. Once inside, audience members will be free to explore the abandoned underground chambers, join the secret party or may be caught in the middle of the most terrifying of puzzles.
This Hallowe’en, the infamous horror author Helen Mayer will hold court at a debauched secret party. She will share the perverse and warped research conducted inside the old abandoned abattoir, which was the genesis of her greatest work. In this dark playground, the very nature of human terror has been tested, abused and fed into the living story 'The Forest'.
The author invites you to solve the puzzle and unlock the terrifying history within the old and powerful pages hidden throughout the slaughterhouse. Each holds a key to learning the truth of an ancient tale, which will ensure your survival.
Tonight, a debt will be repaid to blood dishonoured. An eternal nightmare rises up from the depths of the dark boreal forest, in the shadow of the mountain. It comes to feed on new meat inside an old abattoir.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - LONDON 07/09/09
Guerrilla Zoo and FoolishPeople present
The Abattoir Pages
Thurs 22nd - Sat 31st October 2009
Guerilla Zoo and FoolishPeople present The Abattoir Pages, an immersive Halloween event, hosted in a vast, secret subterranean landscape that was once one of London's largest abattoirs.
The Abattoir Pages combines immersive performance, art installation, haunting and treasure hunt-style devices to form a labyrinth of mystery and horror, exposing the earliest Gaelic and Pagan rites. Once inside, audience members will be free to explore the abandoned underground chambers, join the secret party or may be caught in the middle of the most terrifying of puzzles.
Synopsis
This Hallowe’en, the infamous horror author Helen Mayer will hold court at a debauched secret party. She will share the perverse and warped research conducted inside the old abandoned abattoir, which was the genesis of her greatest work. In this dark playground, the very nature of human terror has been tested, abused and fed into the living story 'The Forest'.
The author invites you to solve the puzzle and unlock the terrifying history within the old and powerful pages hidden throughout the slaughterhouse. Each holds a key to learning the truth of an ancient tale, which will ensure your survival.
Tonight, a debt will be repaid to blood dishonoured. An eternal nightmare rises up from the depths of the dark boreal forest, in the shadow of the mountain. It comes to feed on new meat inside an old abattoir.
The Abattoir Pages marks the evolution of the open source meta event as FoolishPeople partner with Guerrilla Zoo in an exciting first-time collaboration of two of London’s most renowned art organisations alongside cutting edge artists and performers. In addition we are excited to have the infamous purveyors of fine adventures, Hunter-Gatherers as part of our outstanding creative team.
The production follows FoolishPeople's
critically acclaimed sell-out run of 'Cirxus' at the Arcola Theatre
and precedes Guerilla Zoo's 'Season of Alejandro Jodorowsky'
productions. ‘The Abattoir Pages’ is the prologue to a new, large
scale work which will be undertaken by FoolishPeople in 2010.
Creative Team
John Harrigan
James Elphick
P. Emerson Williams
Joseph Matheny
James Curcio
Lucy Allin
Claire Tregellas
Victoria Karlsson
Tereza Kamenicka
Jenny Reina
Bryony Henderson
Listings Information:
22 October- 31 October 2009
7.30pm, 8.30pm & 9.30pm entrance times
Entry price £15
Limited edition tickets £20
Tuesday 27th Pay what you can- Subject to availability
Book tickets online: guerrillazoo.com or foolishpeople.com or call 07597576075
The Old Abattoir, 187- 211 St. John's Street, Clerkenwell, London. EC1V 4LS
Not suitable for people of a nervous disposition.
Notes to editors:
Guerrilla Zoo is also producing a ‘Season of Alejandro Jodorowsky’ productions throughout November 09 including a theatre production, a live event, 2 major art exhibitions, exclusive talks and midnight film screenings.
FoolishPeople is currently in pre-production for their forthcoming feature film entitled 'GraveLand' and are planning another large scale immersive event next year, forming a collaboration with Integrate design company.
The Abattoir Pages will feature a transatlantic collaboration between sound artists P. Emerson Williams and Sonica Storm.
Guerrilla Zoo curates and creates conceptual spaces and events with cross-platform ideas, promoting artists from contemporary music, art and performance, via their unique approach into creative platforms, networking and audience participation.
Founded in 1989, FoolishPeople create immersive theatre, live art, collaborative events and film which aim to raise a numinous, transformative experience within the witness to instigate positive change.
For further information, please contact:
Lucy Allin, FoolishPeople
lucena@foolishpeople.org
FoolishPeople
Guerrilla Zoo
Hunter Gatherers
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian: Or, the Evening Redness in the West (Picador Books)
(*****)
Antichrist [Blu-ray] [2009]
(****)
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