The Red Room comes to Dundee Rep
April 15th, 2011
SEX, VIOLENCE AND INSANITY… THE RED ROOM GOES ON TOUR
DAVID HUGHES DANCE BRING THEIR HIGHLY SKILLED, VISUALLY EXCITING AND SINISTER PRODUCTION OF THE RED ROOM TO DUNDEE REP.
If you didn’t manage to beg, buy or steal a ticket for the sell-out run at the Traverse Theatre for the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, you’ll be pleased to hear that David Hughes Dance’s award-winning and critically acclaimed production of THE RED ROOM is coming to Dundee Rep Theatre on 21 April, 8pm as part of their 2011 Spring tour. For information regarding tickets, please click here.
“Dripping decadence and cruelty, it seduces and manipulates its audience expertly… Nasty in the nicest possible way.” The Guardian
The collaboration between one of the UK’s finest contemporary dancers David Hughes (choreographer) and award-winning theatre maker Al Seed (director) is an energetic, contemporary theatrical interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s 19th century classic tale, The Masque of the Red Death; a decadent, Bacchanalian piece of dance-theatre.
“A well-groomed production that resonates with wit intelligence and the kind of cross genre integration that so much dance theatre fails to achieve.” The Herald
Capturing the underlying themes of mortality, hedonism, madness and the end of the world the diverse company of performers weave a multitude of dance traditions – ballet, break dancing, contemporary dance, Bharatanatyam – with high-octane physical theatre to create a truly macabre horror show for the stage.
“It’s a wonderfully rude affair with plenty of humping, jesting, grotesquerie, and some gorgeous courtly-meets-contemporary dance.” Scotland on Sunday
In Poe’s short story, Prince Prospero, having locked himself away in his castle, throws a series of enormous parties to entertain a thousand hedonistic guests. Outside the fortified walls, his kingdom is being rapidly destroyed by a virulent disease known as the red death. The party-goers feign indifference, sinking into ever baser behaviours in their attempt to ignore the hellishness of the world outside and the doom-laden tolling of Prospero’s clock.
Pestilence, decadence, grotesquery… Barricaded in his opulent abbey-mansion a prince entertains a party of debauched revellers whilst the world outside teeters on the brink of plague-ridden apocalypse. But, as long as the wine flows and the musicians play what reason have they to care?…
This touring production was made possible as a result of a two-year flexible funding award from Creative Scotland and DavidHughesDance’s appointment as Associate Company to the Traverse Theatre. The company received a Herald award and a Total Theatre Special Commendation for the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe production.
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