Unvisible

I said that I would not cut and paste anymore. This release is an exception... so excited...

New production company announce ground-breaking project that will change theatre, and comic books, forever.

Saturnalia Productions are delighted to announce a new theatrical production, Unvisible, which brings together some of Scotland’s most critical lauded and famous artists. With a script by Grant Morrison, based on his awarding winning series The Invisibles, and legendary actor Tam Dean Burn in the central role of King Mob, Unvisible will continue the adventures of his creator-owned characters from his best-selling Vertigo graphic novels. Directed by a fantastic collective of internationally renowned stars, including Stewart Laing, Katie Mitchell and Dominic Hill, Unvisible is a cross-platform, multi-media, site-specific spectacle that promises to challenge the audience’s perception of reality. It will feature design from some of Scotland’s finest visual artists, including Frank Quitely (New X-Men) and Sha Nazir (Laptop Guy).

‘Since The Invisibles ended in 2013, Unvisible picks up the story in modern times. King Mob, the revolutionary hero of Counting to None, finds himself isolated after his victory at Westminster Abbey, wondering what happened to the glorious future that the arrival of Barbelith was supposed to bring.’

‘There was only one choice for the role of King Mob,’ explains designer Sha Nazir. ‘Tam Dean Burn is a Glaswegian icon, associated with the exciting theatre of the 1990s – he starred in the original stage production of Trainspotting – and he happens to look exactly like Morrison’s hero!’

Following the format of the graphic novel series, and in the style of director Stewart Laing

ground-breaking Paul Bright, will be performed in five episodes in various locations across the central belt of Scotland. Although they combine towards the grand finale on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, each episode will be a stand-alone event.

‘The Invisibles was a revolutionary moment in comics,’ says producer Kirk King. ‘It challenged the form, bringing in ideas from queer theory, post-modernism and conspiracy culture, to shake up the reader’s very sense of what is real. Unvisible returns to these themes, but now it is time for the theatre audience to receive a dose of Morrison’s mind-bending intellect.’

Each episode will happen in a specially selected venue, beginning in Edinburgh’s notorious ‘pubic triangle’. Each episode will also happen in real time, since Morrison and co-writer Jack Lothian have followed the theories of Aristotle.

‘It might look like an archaic thing, the theories of unity,’ says Lothian. ‘But adopting it is an important part of Morrison’s intention! Like much of his work, there is a clever mix of art and philosophy, and audiences should not expect a classical tragedy… at least not immediately’

NOTES TO EDITORS

LISTINGS

UNVISIBLE: The metaphysical striptease

Venue: The Western Bar, Edinburgh

Dates: 21-30 September 2016, 12pm – 1am (every twenty minutes)

Prices: £4 entrance

In this immersive introduction, audiences are invited to join a down at heel King Mob as he drowns his sorrows in wine and women. When he recognises one of the dancers as his former lover Ragged Robin, however, he begins to remember his destiny.

UNVISIBLE: The Edith Manning Experience

Venue: Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh

Dates: 1 - 10 October 2016, 7.30pm

Prices: tbc

Venue: Bloc, Glasgow

Dates: 10 - 28 October 2016, 7.30pm

Prices: tbc

Featuring a band made up of members of Arab Strab, Mogwai and Holy Mountain (Chemical Underground), this punk ceilidh play follows King Mob’s attempt to bring back his old revolutionary comrades. ‘Think of it as The Blues Brothers meets Fellini,’ says Morrison.

UNVISIBLE: Bollywood Babylon

Venue: The Glue Factory, Glasgow

Dates: 1 - 10 December 2016, 11pm

Prices: tbc

Venue: The Voodoo Room, Edinburgh

Dates: 12 – 23 December 2016, 11pm

Prices: tbc

In the middle of a live DJ set by Glasgow’s Hush and dubstep legend Kode-9, King Mob and his cell prepare a new weapon for battle: sound generated by the appropriation of Bollywood and subliminal bass.

UNVISIBLE: Flexin’Mentallo

Venue: University of Glasgow

Dates: 10 January 2017, all day

Prices: Free

Part conference, part performance, this day is both the fourth part of Unvisible and a critical discussion of the series. Lecturers invited so far include Dr Carl Lavery (Absurdism and the Apocalypse, Morrison and Ionesco), Steven Greer and Dee Heedon (Autobiography when there is no self).

UNVISIBLE: Apocalypstick Now

Venue: Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh

Dates: 23 June 2017, 7.30pm

Prices: tbc

Details to be released nearer the date.

Please contact Kirk King unvisibles23@gmail.com for further details. Interviews are available. Further collaborators will be announced in the forthcoming months.

Biographies

Tam Dean Burn  was born in Leith and grew up in Clermiston.

Previous stage adaptations include: Disco Biscuits (Arthrob); The Cutting Room (Citizens' Theatre).

Acting work includes: Tutti Frutti, Home Edinburgh (National Theatre of Scotland); Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse and Apollo West End); The Cutting Room, Venice Preserved, The Cherry Orchard, Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Scrooge, Peer Gynt, The Pleasure Man (Glasgow Citizens); Filth (Citizens, National Tour and Calgary, Canada); Platonov (Almeida); Berkoff’s Messiah (Edinburgh Assembly); Headstate (Lemon Tree and tour).

Television work includes: Wedding Belles, Longford (Channel 4); River City (BBC); Taggart (STV); Helen West (ITV).

Radio work includes: Velvet Love (Radio 4); ongoing solo show on resonancefm.com including The Complete Poems of William Blake. Tam has also directed and performed in many live radio plays for resonancefm.com.

Directing credits include: William Burrough’s Caught in Possession of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Citizens Theatre); Sniperculture (Traverse); Cruel Brittania (London Scala) all written by Johnny Brown for Underground Utopia.

Audiobook work includes: Trainspottng, Filth, Glue, Porno (Irvine Welsh), The Cutting Room (Louise Welsh, RNIB).

Grant Morrison is highly regarded as one of the most original and inventive writers to work in the comic book industry. He is recognised as being one of the best-selling writers in the medium in the last 20 years.

His revisionist Batman book ARKHAM ASYLUM (with artist Dave McKean) has sold over 600,000 copies worldwide and won numerous awards, making it the most successful original graphic novel to be published in America. In 2009, Eidos released the best-selling video game BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM inspired by the book.

Morrison is renowned for his ability to revive and re-imagine established characters, and has been orchestral behind runs of popular stories for the major companies including DC Comics characters; BATMAN, SUPERMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, DOOM PATROL, ANIMAL MAN and for Marvel Comics the best-selling monthly, NEW X-MEN, MARVEL BOY and FANTASTIC FOUR.

His Graphic Novels and Comic Book collections have been translated into twenty languages and are sold worldwide to international acclaim.

In September 2011 as part of the new 52 re-launch at DC Comics, Grant began writing Superman again in the best-selling ACTION COMICS franchise, as the cornerstone book of the line.

In 2014, work at DC Comics includes a revisionist take on Wonder Woman for the Earth One Graphic Novel, WONDER WOMAN: THE TRIAL OF DIANA PRINCE. The epic, long-awaited maxi series, MULTIVERSITY, is due for release in June 2014.  

As part of his remit at DC Comics, Morrison has also acted as a Consultant, developing updated approaches on minor characters and recreating them as springboards for other writers. He has also had award winning and critical success using this revival method for his own maxi-series, SEVEN SOLDIERS in 2006. His take on Superman for ALL-STAR SUPERMAN cements his ability to breathe life into old franchises and his four year story run on Batman has woven a complex and intriguing best-selling tale the likes of which has not been seen in decades.

In 1997, Grant was the first comic book writer to be included as one of Entertainment Weekly's top 100 creative people in America.