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Remnants of Calder Hall

Cirxus photo album. All photography taken by Yiannis Katsaris.

The Eye of Mr. Slin

Tension and disappearing. Sailors drown, crew die, people are replaced. Might I take the liberty to enquire that you have found your replacements? To fill in for you and keep the memory of who you are alive and well, as it were. Of course you have! Good. Very sensible indeed! Now listen, can you hear that wonderful noise? Two villages are fusing as a bridge of molten uranium connects two landscapes into one geographic location. Dear táttipáni, welcome to the Windscale Works Atomic Factory.

Download The.Eye.of.Mr.Slin

The GSpot: User's Manual for the Human Experience- CIRXUS

The GSpot: User's Manual for the Human Experience- CIRXUS

Joseph Matheny talks to Michael Dean about his newest book, A USER'S MANUAL FOR THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE. Also in this show: Sleepchamber and and excerpt from the Foolishpeople production of CIRXUS.

Show dedicated to my dearly departed friend: Dave Szulborski

Information: In the SLEEPCHAMBER bit, John Zewizz and co. gives updates on the band, shares tracks from the forthcoming album "Stolen Sleep", and thanks the fans and collaborators who have supported the return of SLEEPCHAMBER.

Exerpt from Cirxus, a FoolishPeople production written and directed by John Harrigan. This psycho-audio sequence is produced and performed by P. Emerson Williams and directed by John Harrigan. A promenade performance will run from 25th May - 13th June 2009 in Arcola Theatre's new industrial space, Studio K in London.

CIRXUS

CIRXUS - Tickets Now Available!

25th May - 13th June 2009 

Starting time: 

8.30pm & 9.15pm 

STUDIO K 

Written and directed by John Harrigan 

1957- Seascale, the North of England. Cirxus is an old English circus lost in the shadows of the smoke stacks of Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station. FoolishPeople will use mythology, shamanism, music and dance to bring the darkness of an atomic circus to life. The performance will allow audience members to step into the world of an old English circus lost in the 1950s, explore its sideshows and meet extraordinary characters from the past and future.

Athalia the ballerina waits in the ring for Loudon the Clown to return with directions to the Black Pool, the mythic site of the Home Sweet Home, the final show of the season. Join her as she begins a bizarre and wondrous search for Loudon through the irradiated secrets of Cirxus, where she must face the macabre atomic menagerie, haunted by circus animals and navigate her way through the maze of strange, hallucinogenic sideshows on the other side of time. Immerse yourself in the world of Cirxus, where theatric arcana and Atomic fallout irradiate the sawdust arenas of our inner worlds.

Presented by FoolishPeople

Written and Directed by John Harrigan

Creative Team 

John Harrigan 

Lucy Allin 

Victoria Karlsson 

P. Emerson Williams 

Claire Tregellas 

Tereza Kamenicka 

This is a promenade performance in Arcola's new industrial space, Studio K. Cirxus is based on fact: the German Bremen University confirmed that radioactive contamination by Americium-241 found in some soil samples taken by Greenpeace 11.5 km south of Sellafield, were 400 times higher than those taken 11 km from Chernobyl. 51 years on, the villagers of Seascale still live with the ramifications of the accident at Pile 1 of the Windscale Works Atomic Energy Factory. 

Cirxus will be FoolishPeople's first London performance run since the critically acclaimed Dead Language at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2007. 

[ Buy Tickets ]

TICKET INFORMATION: 

• Ticket Prices £14/£10 

• Tuesdays 'PAY WHAT YOU CAN' (subject to availability) 

• Free tickets are available for under 26s under the Night Less Ordinary Free Ticket Scheme Monday-Thursday evenings for the first 2 weeks (please ring box office more information) PLEASE NOTE: 

• No concessions on Fridays and Saturdays 

• Proof will be required for concessions 

• All tickets are NON-REFUNDABLE 

Cirxus Image by P. Emerson Willliams.

FoolishPeople Present CIRXUS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - LONDON 14/04/09

FoolishPeople present
CIRXUS
Written and directed by John Harrigan

25 May - 13 June 2009 Arcola Theatre
Press Night Thursday 28 May 8.30pm

FoolishPeople present Cirxus a promenade performance in Arcola's new industrial space, Unit K.

FoolishPeople will use mythology, shamanism, music and dance to bring the darkness of an atomic circus to life. The performance will allow audience members to step into the world of an old English circus lost in the 1950s, explore its sideshows and meet extraordinary characters from the past and future.

1957- Seascale, the North of England. Cirxus is an old English circus lost in the shadows of the smoke stacks of Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station.

Athalia the ballerina waits in the ring for Loudon the Clown to return with directions to the Black Pool, the mythic site of the Home Sweet Home, the final show of the season. Join her as she begins a bizarre and wondrous search for Loudon through the irradiated secrets of Cirxus, where she must face the macabre atomic menagerie, haunted by circus animals and navigate her way through the maze of strange, hallucinogenic sideshows on the other side of time.

Immerse yourself in the world of Cirxus, where theatric arcana and Atomic fallout irradiate the sawdust arenas of our inner worlds.

Cirxus is based on fact: the German Bremen University confirmed that radioactive contamination by Americium-241 found in some soil samples taken by Greenpeace 11.5 km south of Sellafield, were 400 times higher than those taken 11 km from Chernobyl. 51 years on, the villagers of Seascale still live with the ramifications of the accident at Pile 1 of the Windscale Works Atomic Energy Factory.

Cirxus will be FoolishPeople's first London performance run since the critically acclaimed Dead Language which was performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 2007. Dead Language was part of the London Lates season of cultural events and selected for the Times ‘Top Five Events’.

FoolishPeople's core creative team for Cirxus consists of John Harrigan, Lucy Allin, Victoria Karlsson, P. Emerson Williams, Claire Tregellas, Tereza Kamenicka & Paron Mead.

Listings Information:
Cirxus
24 May- 13 June 2009
8.30pm & 9.15pm entrance times
£14/£10 concessions
Pay what you can Tuesday (tickets from 7pm, subject to availability)
Free tickets are available for under 26s on Monday-Thursday evenings for the first 2 weeks
Book online: arcolatheatre.com
Box office: 020 7503 1646
Arcola Theatre Unit K, 27 Arcola Street, E8 2DJ

Notes to editors:

• FoolishPeople are currently in pre-production with Mythos Media and DPRGRM for a feature film entitled 'Y', which is being shot in Los Angeles CA in July 2009. 'Y' was written by John Harrigan and James Curcio and directed by Joseph Matheny.
• FoolishPeople have been creating art, theatre, film, books & collaborative events since 1989. 
• Arcola's Unit K will officially launch in July 2009 with Create Festival 2009.
• Cirxus is sponsored by The Movieum of London, Chisenhale Dance Space and The Courtyard.

For further information, please contact:
art@foolishpeople.org or visit: foolishpeople.org

Download PDF of Cirxus Press Release