If you do not want a night at the theatre, then you should go and see Punch Drunk in their new site specific production. You could even get punch drunk if you so please, as the evening’s antics whirl deliriously around a twenties-style jazz bar, complete with a band, hostesses, trees growing among the tables and gilded bird cages full of feathers. If you are lucky, Tybalt or Mercutio may even join you for a cocktail.
Taking place in a deserted Victorian warehouse near Oval, the events of Firebird Ball see you partaking in your own solitary nightmare. Once you have been fitted with ‘proper attire’, you are free to explore the huge deserted space, which has been renovated with installation art and live performance that intrigues, absorbs and sometimes scares the hell out of you.
You know the part in scary movies where the stupid victim is deciding between the obvious choice of out the door (to safety) or up the stairs (to obvious danger)? Well imagine you are playing that part in a warped Shakesperian/Stravinskian horror film. You will find yourself taking the same wrong turnings at every point, a strange inquisitiveness compelling you to investigate new spaces and interact with new characters - a white forest where escaped fire birds dance amongst feather trees, a church altar where the air is saturated with choking incense and a ghostly pasty faced vicar rushes at you from out of the darkness, a dining room where two lovers dance and squash each other into corners before shutting you out of their room, a disturbed Juliet in her fairy tale boudoir, Romeo asking you to dance or the remnants of a derelict asylum.
Exploring a world of brilliant jewels among dusty corners and dark corridors where faceless figures lurk in the darkness, Firebird Ball is quite incredible in its capacity to incite genuine fear and fascination - never have I been to such a unique, terror inspiring performance event. Oh, and when you go and see it, I dare you to be No 1. Don’t ask, just go.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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