Night Visit – performance storytelling for adults
“I had heard my Grandfather’s stories of spirits many times, but the events were so strange, I was never sure if I’d really heard them, exaggerated them, or invented them myself.”
Night Visit is the culmination of my year long residency of performances and research at The Swedenborg Society. This experimental storytelling performance traces the cultural history of spiritualism from the 1800’s when science and photography tried to capture the invisible, to the mass bereavement of two World wars. The search for evidence is contrasted with Swedenborg’s night visits, where he bravely surrendered himself to exploration of the supernatural, travelling through the cosmos, in search of truth. Biography and myth, merge with history and dream, invoking multiple perspectives, triggering memories, summoning ghosts.
Night Visit has a sound world composed in surround, and performed by Panos Ghikas improvising live on acoustic and electronic instruments. Images are created and manipulated live by Fotios Begklis. Sound and speech fracture and fuse, narrative and noise cut-up and coalesce, digital images suggest fleeting presences and music conjures metaphysical spaces.
Travel through the night to other worlds, encounter spirits, visit heaven and hell, voyage beyond death, as I entwine stories of my ancestors experiences of spiritualism, with Swedenborg’s dazzling visions.
Hear a sneak preview of me rehearsing with Panos who is playing viola and samples, the clip starts with my Grandfather’s voice:
The premiere of Night Visit is on Saturday October 20, 2012, 7.00 pm. It is part of The Bloomsbury Festival. The performance is for adults only. Admission is free, but capacity is limited and booking is essential. Please book tickets in advance – from The Bloomsbury Festival or The Swedenborg Society – email: nora@swedenborg.org or call: 0207405 7986.
Christmas Greetings & 2012 Roundup « swedenborgsociety
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