New circus adaptation of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber comes to Worthing

A new circus adaptation of Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber will come to Pavilion Theatre, Worthing in June.

Proteus Theatre will bring their adaptation of Angela Carter’s collection The Bloody Chamber (and Other Stories) to the venue between Friday 11 June and Saturday 12 June 2021.

Using circus as a physical vocabulary, the award-winning Proteus will translate the fever dream style of Angela Carter’s macabre fairy tales to the stage.

The Bloody Chamber is a heady, erotic, and surprisingly funny re-phrasing of some of the most famous folk and fairy tales in Western culture. These are the stories our mothers told us. And all the ones they didn’t dare.

Tickets priced at £18.50 are on sale now here.

Jessica Andrade (The Brownie Club, Jacksons Lane and Roundhouse; Around the World in 80 Days, UK tour), Megan Brooks (Squeezy Green’s Compendium of Games, The Wardrobe Theatre; Igloo, Bristol Old Vic), Ashley Christmas (Crimes on the Coast, tour; The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Hull Truck Theatre), Anesta Mathurin (Aida, ENO; The Way Out, BBC4) and Lorraine Moynehan (Devisor: Nights at the Circus, Kneehigh; Trapeze, English National Ballet) will make up the cast.

Director Mary Swan commented: “Women are always being told what we can and can’t do in order to avoid being assaulted, while on the other hand also promoting sexual fulfilment by catering to the male gaze. We give this advice to young women all the time; why the hell should we have to? Circus inverts the world: defying gravity, contorting the bounds of physical movement and
embracing the human connection to do the impossible.

“It’s perfect for making familiar situations entirely surreal and surreal situations quite familiar; it’s perfect for challenging what’s socially accepted for no good reason. Carter’s fantastical, theatrical, lyrical stories are beautifully transfigured by circus.”

Proteus Theatre are working with leading figures in the circus industry to choreograph the piece including Mimbre’s Silvia Fratelli, Charlotte Mooney from Ockham’s Razor and Tamzen Moulding the Artistic Director of Inverted Theatre.

The Bloody Chamber also features an original soundtrack with musical direction, arrangements and sound design by Max Reinhardt (BBC Radio 3 Late Junction) and original composition by Paul Wild who worked with Proteus on Macbeth.

The Bloody Chamber at Pavilion Theatre, Worthing, 11 – 12 June. Tickets are available priced from £18.50 from https://wtam.uk/event/the-bloody-chamber/.