Nightmares in Dramaturgy: Danse Macabre @ The Red Lion

DANSE MACABRE PRESENTS: 

NIGHTMARES IN PROGrESS

A NEW SHOWCASE OF EXPERIMENTAL HORROR THEATRE THAT AIMS TO SHOW JUST HOW SCARY SITTING IN THE DARK WITH A ROOM OF STRANGERS CAN BE. 

INCLUDES TWO TERRIFYING TALES THAT WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH, SCREAM, AND TURN ON THE LIGHTS WHEN YOU GET HOME.

EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE IS THE STORY OF SAM, AN ISOLATED WRITER WHO AFTER BEING INSPIRED BY A HORRIFIC TRUE STORY, BEGINS TO WRITE HER DIFFICULT SECOND NOVEL. HOWEVER AS FICTION AND REALITY BEGIN TO BLUR, SHE BEGINS TO REALISE THAT IT MIGHT NOT JUST BE HER DEADLINE THAT IS KEEPING HER UP AT NIGHT.

THE SANDMAN IS THE STORY OF TOM, AN INSOMNIAC WHO GOES LOOKING FOR A CURE IN A SENSORY DEPRIVATION TANK, AND FINDS SOMETHING MUCH MORE INTERESTING…AN INTERACTIVE EXTRA SENSORY THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE, DANSE MACABRE INVITES YOU TO STEP INTO THE SHOES OF TOM HIMSELF; SMELLING, HEARING AND FEELING HIS EXPERIENCES WITHIN THE TANK, AND WITH WHATEVER IS LURKING IN THE DARKNESS.

NOTE: VIEWERS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE, SHOULD BE WARNED, AND SHOULD PROBABLY GO SEE A COMEDY OR SOMETHING NICE LIKE THAT. MAYBE AN 18^TH CENTURY FARCE. OR SOMETHING WITH SONGS IN IT.  

29TH JAN. 7.30PM £8/£6

What was the inspiration for the performance?

The inspiration for the performance came initially from us, the collective, constantly seeing the words ‘based on a true story’ on various films, plays and books and wondering just how accurate a statement this was. For when an audience member goes to see a show, watch a film, or read a book, they puts a large amount of innate trust in it, often taking what the author has presented to them at face value. 

Thus, if they are told the show is based on a true story, it is quite unlikely they will question it. Even in more abstract shows, when an actor takes a chair and tells you it’s a frog, the audience may be perplexed but is still quite likely to go along with this concept. 

Therefore, this trust and the possibilities it created made us wonder just how this could be then turned on its head and used to terrify an audience (our parents would be so proud). For example, if you tell an audience member that there is nothing to fear, they are unlikely to bother to turn around and check for the monster, that is definitely not sat there. 

Thus, our show ‘Nightmares in Progress’ takes this trust as its premise and presents two tales of horror which dissect and examine the gap between an audience’s perception and their reality when watching entertainment (in other words, be wary of sitting in the front row). 

For example, our first tale ‘Every Breath You Take’ examines the warped perception of a writer trying to finish their difficult second novel and allows an audience member to question what exactly is real and what isn’t. 

Our second tale ‘The Sandman’, also examines these themes by following the story of an insomniac looking to cure their ailment at a sensory deprivation tank. However, this second tale goes one step further by dissecting how an audience member perceives a show by performing it in the form of an extra-sensory theatrical experience where the audience can touch, taste and smell what the character does, or at least think they do.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

Yes, very much so. Good theatre should always engage and provoke, creating questions and responses in the audience member’s head that they had previously not paid attention to; whether that be as simple as ‘should I be nicer to strangers on public transport? (Answer: Yes) or more complicated matters like ‘if I get into a position of governmental power should I not be corrupt and give all my friends handouts? (Answer: Take a guess.) 

As well as that, good theatre can use the power of metaphor to make something complicated understandable and accessible to aid discussion. Lucy Prebble’s Enron for example, is a brilliant example of turning hard to grasp financial terms into beautiful visual metaphors of velociraptors and blind mice. Our performances, aim to fulfil both aspects but through the medium of horror, as whilst our shows are there primarily to frighten and entertain, we also want to dissect just why certain aspects of life scare us more than others.

How did you become interested in making performance?

As a collective, we all became interested in performance at different levels, some of us fell in love when we went to see shows in the West End as a child, others from writing and performing their own shows and one particular member from meeting and fanboying over the Chuckle Brothers. 

From there, we all came together at the University of York whilst studying theatre, having discovered that we all had the same dark sense of humour (which we have since christened ‘bloody tongue-in cheek. Copyright pending.)  From there, we started writing and devising shows together and the rest as they say is geography…wait no, that’s not quite right…

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Firstly, cup of tea. Can’t be doing a show without a cup of tea. Then…biscuits. Can’t be doing a show without biscuits, and finally…oh have we run out of bourbons again? Right, trip to the shop. What do you mean you’ve run out of bourbons? You can’t run out of bourbons? How is that even possible? No, I’m not raising my voice. You’re raising your voice. 

Look, you don’t understand, we are making art here! And we are not doing it without…look I don’t think calling security is really necessary unless they know where the bourbons are. Fine, I’m leaving, but when I write my next show, I’m going to write in a creepy bloodsucking cashier called Kevin and then who’ll be sorry then. Hmmm? And thus, inspiration is born…

In all honesty, it usually entails a long back and forth of looking at what scares us as people, snowballing ideas of how to put this across on stage in a unique way and from there devising characters, structure and a plot. Before moving into rehearsals, R&D (which one of us, mentioning no names…Joe, used to believe was when we took a break from the show to play Dungeons and Dragons), and finally a fully finished performance which the public will hopefully like. If not, we have already invested in a safe house, which is secure from pitchfork wielding mobs.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Yes, as we are a theatre collective who regularly dips into the blood-soaked world of horror, this show isn’t a far step from our usual work. Previous shows have included a night of ghost stories told entirely by torchlight and a promenade version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow told in the woods.  At the same time, our shows normally have a more humorous slant to them, and whilst there are jokes in this one (including a cracking one about a corpse and tangerine), it’s more about fear and dread than punchlines. 

Overall, though probably don’t bring your kids to it (unless you want a very odd drive home).

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Apart from being entertained, thrilled and eager to go see more horror theatre, we hope that the audience will be provoked into examining just how and why they fear certain things. For us, horror is a fantastic way of confronting your fears and in turn, gaining catharsis from the fact that the scariest thing in the world is your imagination (oh and wasps. They’ll come for us all one day.) Thus, hopefully you leave our shows with a sense of being less afraid of the wide world when you come out of it (once you’ve checked under the bed for a final time that is…).