Theatre of mystery, imagination and the fantastique

A conspiracy of shadows

a manifesto for a theatre beyond cultural subsistence

SHADOW HOUSE PITS operates like a cockroach at the table of culture. Up through the cracks from the pits and the shadows it feeds from the crumbs, making an appearance before disappearing into the darkness. Somehow it doesn't respond to the niceness of marketing smiles from the affirming Western cultural art scene; nor does it placate the aspiring competing cultures of opposition or creeping world insanity as illustrated by the radicalisation of Islam. For all its illogical faults, give us multi-cultural perspectives over any decrepit insular mono-cultural belief system any time. This said, we acknowledge the deaths and struggles of the thousands of individuals who fought hard to win basic human rights over the centuries and face the horrors of dogmatic cultural and religious might that continues to squash the personal "i" with an insane psychosis proclaimed by the books of prophets.

SHADOW HOUSE PITS seeks to challenge and inspire audiences and participants through theatre development, presentation and education.

We wish to:

• create a centre of constant opposition to the dominant and more orthodox arts practices and, by so doing, be a rejuvenating force for arts practice;

• create and present outstanding theatrical mixed media and theatrical events;

• provide international networking with like-minded people who seek cultural and social reform through theatre arts practice and related by-products, writings and practices;

• promote and stimulate new writing and works of art that inspire local cultural, spiritual and creative exploration in form and content;

• publish critical and perceptive writings in theatre arts expression, communication and philosophy infected with the personal "I";

• operate an education unit capable of stimulating community knowledge and action in theatre and multi-media challenge to orthodox mass media presentation;

• conduct experimentation in erotic arts links with theatrical presentation and social / cultural / psychological perceptions;

• conduct research and experimentation in metaphorical and spiritual cross-cultural referencing for theatrical presentation and audience perceptions;

• provide cross media links in the development of content for live on-stage, on-screen and on-line presentation;

• challenge cultural perception to re-evaluate its precepts and assumptions.

How Do We Proceed?

A theatre beyond cultural subsistence; a "theatre of mystery, imagination and the fantastique" requires that we be very realistic in our strategies and daring in our art and our creative processes.

Strategies for a theatre beyond cultural subsistence

Our theatre will harness digital technologies involving the Internet and interactive live and pre-recorded video. By using projections and/or screen monitors in the design of live theatre performances, we can at once heighten the live performance while re-focusing audiences on to aspects that would otherwise be missed. It also means that the scope for audience interaction is greatly enhanced. Where possible, audiences should be able to link on to a huge universe of information which the performance should tempt them to access. And so we engage the emotions and, then through them, the minds of our audiences.

By integrating on-line and movie making technologies, we aim to break down the barriers of live and recorded performance. This integration is a most significant and important tool and a major component of our theatre.

The more we can add value by way of linking our work into the eyes and ears of popular culture, the more we can create awareness of our being in relation to that culture.

To break the new subsistence of cultural, artistic and spiritual ennui and commodification, our theatre seeks to awaken the powers of:

• metaphors constructed from Nature

• anger and the urge to destroy

• poetic violence

• lust and erotic instincts

• dangerous journeys and adventures

• dreams and the sub-conscious truth

• fear and courage

• pure love ... even naive love

• artistic action and daring

• Nature and the Universe

• the body, skin, blood, pain and the senses

• thought, feeling, passion and aspiration

• vicarious association and experience of extremes in action and feeling

• the vitality of words

• staking a claim on the arts to wrench it from the clasps and binds of ugly cynicism and cowardliness

• struggle and perseverance

• exposure

• individual perception

• contradictions and dialectics.

Shadow House PITS affirms the value of the personal "i": the power of individual thought, perception and feeling as a tool for artistic endeavours. The personal 'i' is being jettisoned from both the ideological 'right' and 'left' of the socio/political spectrum. "i" is harder to manage than the self-conscious "we" of perception. "i" is silenced by self-censoring and imposed constraint. The paradox is lost. For without a strong sense of "i" there is little sense of "we" and what there is can only be made seem real by unseen controllers of agendas to which the "we" sheepishly follows. It's not only up to the social scientists, the agendists and the high priests to examine the truth and falsehoods which present to social humanity. It is also up to the artists and those who practice the art of theatre.

Shadow House PITS declares its commitment to the personal "i" of artistic creation and uses this commitment to challenge orthodoxy and charlatan practices where-ever they emerge; and then to create and present the highest quality theatre from within our imagination and intuitive connection to the natural order of the universe.

WANT TO BE PART OF SHADOW HOUSE PITS. THEN EMAIL US AND SEE WHERE WE CAN PROCEED FROM HERE.

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