Arts House Spectacular

Arts House Spectacular Spectacular Forced Entertainment (UK)

Thu 6 - Sat 8 August

Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall

 Arts House present acclaimed UK theatre ensemble Forced Entertainment’s provocative new work Spectacular.

Spectacular is about death, playing dead and about the strange contact between two performers on-stage and an audience caught between what they are watching and what they are being told.

A lone performer takes to the stage, explaining that the show we’re watching is somehow different tonight. The atmosphere is different, his entrance was off, the lights are wrong, some scenery is missing, and some performers are absent. The tone is wrong. Things are somehow falling to pieces, or maybe things are just now falling into place. The audience reaction, our protagonist says, is not quite what he expected, not quite what he's used to. Perhaps the fact he is dressed as a skeleton has something to do with it.

Celebrating their 25th anniversary in 2009, Forced Entertainment has been hailed as Britain’s ‘most brilliant experimental theatre company’ and their work has been presented the world over. This season of Spectacular at Arts House represents their first return to Melbourne since the Australian premiere of ‘Bloody Mess’ at the 2005 Melbourne Festival.

Conceived and devised by the company
Performers: Robin Arthur and Claire Marshall
Direction: Tim Etchells
Text: Tim Etchells, Robin Arthur and Forced Entertainment. Design: Richard Lowdon. Lighting Design: Nigel Edwards. Production: Ray Rennie and Francis Stevenson
Co-production Partners: BIT Teatergarasgen (Bergen), Hebbel am Ufer (Berlin), PACT Zollverein (Essen),Les Spectacles vivants - Centre Pompidou (Paris), Theatre Garonne (Toulouse), Tramway (Glasgow).
'A fascinating, haunting piece of work' **** The Guardian

'Spectacular strips the flesh off theatre and gets right down to the bone' **** Time Out

Venue: Arts House, North Melbourne Town Hall
Address: 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
Dates: Thu 6 - Sat 8 August
Times: Thu, Fri & Sun 7.45pm, Sat 3pm & 7.45pm
Tickets: Full $35/ Conc $28
Bookings: call 03 9639 0096 or visit www.artshouse.com.au

75 minutes, no interval



Image: Hugo Glendinning