Punchdrunk - The Masque of the Red Death

Our Review:

3 October 2007

Come with me, gentle reader, into the sinister, murky world of that master of horror, Edgar Allan Poe and his story The Masque of the Red Death, as re-imagined by Punchdrunk. The journey will not be easy as I have only words to guide you and words take something of a back seat in this enormous three-storey art installation in which dance is mixed with drama and Victorian music hall. And besides, my notes are mostly illegible because they were written in a candle-lit fog.

Punchdrunk (under the aegis of the National Theatre) had a terrific hit last year with the story of Faust played out in the wide open spaces of a Wapping warehouse. This time the company has joined forces with BAC to transform the whole of its Victorian Lavender Hill headquarters, the Old Town Hall, with the help of architect Steve Tompkins and 200 volunteers. The result is a gothic palace of delights and surprises - and one or two frights. Anyone afraid of the da...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

Nina Romain - 12 November 2007:

This intelligent, intriguing performance piece will convert you to its kooky, spooky atmosphere in the best Addams-Family style. Dressed in a plague doctor's mask and velvet cape, as an audience member you will become a bit part player, in a combination of Poe’s best known plays. Anyone who has read Fall of the House of Usher, Ligeria, or the Purloined Letter will be able to identify snippets of the writer’s work. Anyone who hasn't can still enjoy the play, although the only downfall is that there should be more dialogue or drama directly taken from Poe, as in some identifiable dialogue or play structure. As a result, the play is atmospheric and gripping but not directly recognisable - more along the lines of a generic 19th century play. The setting is a success of beautiful yet tawdy props lurking in the darkness and festowned with cobwebs, a cross between Miss Havisham's bridal boudoir, a cobwebby masquerade ball, and a museum wrecked by looters. The performers wander from room to room so the the audience following whichever performance they choose, whether this involves a fistfight or lovescene. One particularly effective and Blair-Witch style prop is a tiny pocketbook diary which reads: “Today I did a bad thing….” scrawled on random pages in increasingly frantic handwriting, with the rest of the diary is left blank. What evil deed was done, and what became of the writer? The clues are all here if you look hard enough...or are they? ...

Read more and add your own review

Related Whatsonstage.com Articles

Review Round-up: Punchdrunk Scores Again at BAC More»