Subject of this fawning Guardian piece by Paul Morley, Daniel has scored everything from mainstream shows like Peepshow, Hell’s Kitchen, Love Island, Prehistoric Park and the Regency House to the videogame Little Big Planet as well as serious productions like Hirosh)ima and Napoleon. Daniel’s music was complemented by bespoke foley effects in binaural stereo sound from Nicole Walters; narrator was Josh Darcy.

You can download the full 10 minute MP3 here but please note that although the track will play on regular speakers, the binaural stereo effects will only work on headphones.

Friday 30th October 2009

CREDITS / CAST AND CREW LIST

Production team

Tobias Slater and Tough Love – curators

Jayne Hardy – assistant

Alex Stone and Carly Hook – Art Direction and Lighting

Assistants: Naomi Young and Rachel Young

Natacha Poledica – Stage Manager

Nohelia Reyes – Make up artist

Joe Toll and James – Sound

Sean Hearn – Silent Sound Systems

Georgia Merton – video recording

Reid Peppard and LaJohn Joseph – Door

Scarlet Winter and Mike – Cloakroom

Sideshows

Luke and Simon (The Great Stromboli) – Barbershop and wedding photographs (slit throats and blue beards)

Edwin Flay – Handcuff escapeology

Lheila – Fortune telling

Blue Beard’s Forbidden Chamber show

Original score – Daniel Pemberton

Binaural stereo sound effects – Nicola Walters

Ros AKA Kiki Kaboom – Envy

Emma Cooper AKA Ginger Blush  – Pride

Ruby Martin AKA Emerald Fontaine – Lust

Sheli Andrews AKA Amber Topaz – Wrath

Torie Dieppe AKA Lil Miss Chievous – Sloth

Jayne Hardy – Gluttony

Richard Poynton AKA Stage Door Johnny – The Guard

Ed Wills AKA Balthazar DeVille – The Doorman

Stage Acts

Delightee

Ophelia Bitz

Lydia Darling

Chiqui and Eduoardo

The Beaux Belles

Musical acts

Spencer Maybe The Devil

Tom Baker – accordion

Sometimes Jasmine – cello

Emma Butterworth – viola

Robbie Fraser – trumpet

DJs

The Bees Knees

SisaMo

Hitman Hearn

The Earl of Ealing

Craig Clare (Uncle Bob’s Disco)

Walkabout

The Beaux Belles (Ann Pidcock, Jo Stobbs, Gemma Whelan, Heather Holt, Lexi, Stephanie Sen)

Will Segerman – Juggling

Chiqui – Poledancing

Food

Lily Vanilli – Blood Curdling Cupcakes

Karla Richards – Trick and Treat Chocolates

Abby Waldman – Turkish Delight, Turkish Dismay, Turkish Disgust

Volunteers

Mel Dasan

Pete Johnson

Erin Healy

Georgina Alexander

Jo Palmer

]]> http://www.whitemischief.info/show-blogs/past-shows/oct-30-2009-show/credits-cast-and-crew-le-chateau-de-barbe-bleue/feed 0 http://www.whitemischief.info/show-blogs/past-shows/oct-30-2009-show/blue-beards-castle-the-bela-bartok-opera http://www.whitemischief.info/show-blogs/past-shows/oct-30-2009-show/blue-beards-castle-the-bela-bartok-opera#comments Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:00:23 +0000 Tobias http://www.whitemischief.info/?p=1236

Blue Beard’s Castle – as told in the Béla Bartók opera

Bluebeard and his wife Judith arrive at his castle, which is all dark. Bluebeard asks Judith if she wants to stay and even offers her an opportunity to leave, but she decides to stay. Judith insists that all the doors be opened, to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based on her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others, and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance.

The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber, stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons, and behind the third a storehouse of riches. Bluebeard urges her on. Behind the fourth door is a secret garden of great beauty; behind the fifth, a window onto Bluebeard’s vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden, and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard’s kingdom.

Bluebeard pleads with her to stop: the castle is as bright as it can get, and will not get any brighter, but Judith refuses to be stopped after coming this far, and opens the penultimate sixth door, as a shadow passes over the castle. This is the first room that has not been somehow stained with blood; a silent silvery lake is all that lies within, “a lake of tears”. Bluebeard begs Judith to simply love him, and ask no more questions. The last door must be shut forever. But she persists, asking him about his former wives, and then accusing him of having murdered them, suggesting that their blood was the blood everywhere, that their tears were those that filled the lake, and that their bodies lie behind the last door. At this, Bluebeard hands over the last key.

Behind the door are Bluebeard’s former wives, but still alive, dressed in crowns and jewellery. They emerge silently, and Bluebeard, overcome with emotion, prostrates himself before them and praises each in turn, finally turning to Judith and beginning to praise her as his fourth wife. She is horrified, begs him to stop, but it is too late. He dresses her in the jewellery they wear, which she finds exceedingly heavy. Her head drooping under the weight, she follows the other wives along a beam of moonlight through the seventh door. It closes behind her, and Bluebeard is left alone as all fades to total darkness.

For more information on our Barbe-Bleue Halloween party or to book your place, click here.

Want to read the original Blue Beard tale? Read the full Charles Perrault version or our abbreviated summary.

So fascinating is the Barbe-Bleue story that numerous critics have analysed the tale. Here are a few insights that we have discovered during our research:

Novelist Lydia Millet has pointed out in her essay, The Wife Killer (published in Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favourite Fairy Tales): “Blue Beard wanted his new wife to find the corpses of his former wives. He wanted the new bride to discover their mutilated corpses; he wanted her disobedience. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given her the key to the forbidden closet; he wouldn’t have left town on his so–called business trip; and he wouldn’t have stashed the dead Mrs. Blue Beards in the closet in the first place. Transparently, this was a set–up.”

Maria Tatar, The Classic Fairy Tales: “Perrault’s story, by underscoring the heroine’s kinship with certain literary, biblical, and mythical figures (most notably Psyche, Eve, and Pandora), gives us a tale that willfully undermines a robust folkloric tradition in which the heroine is a resourceful agent of her own salvation.”

According to Terri Windling in the piece Blue Beard and the Bloody Chamber, the story can be seen as an “expression of young girls’ fears about marriage. Perrault was writing at a time, and in a social class, when arranged marriages were commonplace, and divorce out of the question. A young woman could easily find herself married off to an old man without her consent — or to a monster: a drunkard, a libertine, or an abusive spouse. Further, the mortality rate of women in childbirth was frighteningly high. Remarriage was commonplace for men who’d lost a wife (or wives) in this fashion, and ghosts from previous marriages hung over many a young bride’s wedding. (Perrault and other writers in the fairy tale salons were firmly against arranged marriages, and this concern can be seen in the subtext of many fairy tales of the period.)”

Marina Warner: “Bluebeard has entered secular mythology alongside Cinderella and Snow White. But his story possesses a characteristic with particular affinity to the present day: seriality. Whereas the violence in the heroines’ lives is considered suitable for children, the ogre has metamorphosed in popular culture for adults, into mass murderer, the kidnapper, the serial killer: a collector, as in John Fowles’s novel The Collector, an obsessive, like Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. Though cruel women, human or fairy, dominate children’s stories with their powers, the Bluebeard figure, as a generic type of male murderer, has gradually entered material requiring restricted ratings as well.”

Lydia Millet, The Wife Killer: “Blue Beard retains his charm by being what most men and women feel they cannot be: an overt articulator of the private fantasy of egomania. ..he is the subject that takes itself for a god. He is omnipotent because he accepts no social compromise; he acts solely in the pursuit of his own satisfaction…Between an egotist with high expectations and a sociopath stretches only the fine thread of empathy and identification….Bluebeard is a story about illusion, transgression, and the dark side of carnal appetites. It cautions us to beware of strangers in the wood. . .and of gentleman in the front parlor.”

For more information on our Barbe-Bleue Halloween party or to book your place, click here.

Want to read the original Blue Beard tale? Read the full Charles Perrault version or our abbreviated summary.

If you’re still deciding, be warned that our Oct 30th Halloween show is nearly completely sold out with only just a few places remaining. We’re making available fewer places than last year, so this party will definitely sell out. To encourage you to book now we’ve written this guide on what to expect at Le Chateau de Barbe Bleue.

1. Part show, part party

White Mischief is presenting the Blue Beard story within the environment of a party. Within the four rooms of entertainment you’ll find live music, DJs and dancing, vaudeville acts, themed decor, the opportunity to interact with characters up close and a short show where the blood-curdling climax to the Barbe Bleue tale is brought to life (or death) all around you with sound and light.

2. Some of the most extravagantly-dressed partygoers in London

Take a look at the slideshow below – photos taken at last year’s Halloween party – for evidence that the Mischief Makers like to dress up a storm. It’s not compulsory to dress up, though we strongly encourage it – take a look at our list of inspirations; visit our recommended dressup providers and take advantage of our 30% off Prangsta offer.

3. An exquisite venue

We are taking over a private mansion in the centre of London for this event. Built during the Georgian era with additional Victorian features the entire place is redolent of faded grandeur. Revellers will be able to explore all three floors of this sumptuous building – a lucky few will even be sleeping overnight there (all bedrooms now sold out, sorry!) There’s even an outdoor smoking patio. The venue location (in London W1) will be revealed by email to those who have bought their places in the week prior to the event.

4. Silent disco

While there will of course be the standard “loud” sound system, later in the night we’ll also be opening a silent disco, with wireless stereo headphones. If you haven’t yet encountered this at one of the summer festivals, it’s a particularly surreal experience!

At the time of writing (Oct 23) nearly all the places have already been booked with just a few remaining. The £30 and £35 places have now all gone though a few are around at £40. Places are extremely limited, and the numbers are smaller than last year, so we strongly advise you to book now.

To book, visit our Eventbrite page

[Photo credit: Luke by Siberfi]

To read more about our October 30 Hallowe’en spectacular “Le Chateau de Barbe-Bleue” or to book your place, click here.

The Blue Beard story abbreviated

• Blue Beard is a wealthy man who lives in a castle full of silver and gold
• He is als0 considered terrifically ugly, thanks to his blue beard
• A neighbour had two beautiful daughters but neither wished to marry Blue Beard, not least because he had previously been married to several other wives, all of whom had mysteriously disappeared
• In order to win the family’s affection, Blue Beard invites them to an extravagant party at his castle; by the end one of the girls agrees to marry Blue Beard
• Not long after the marriage, Blue Beard tells his new wife that he must go on an extended trip away, but he encourages his wife to invite her friends to the castle to make merry
• Blue Beard gives the girl a bunch of keys providing her access to the castle and all its rooms, plus all his money and jewels.
• At the same time, he gives her a small key to a forbidden chamber, instructing her never to enter it, for if she unlocks the door she will attract his anger and resentment
• Some time after his departure, Blue Beard’s new wife finally looks in the room
• Inside she finds the bodies of Blue Beard’s previous six wives, dismembered and mutilated amidst a lake of flowing blood.
• The wife drops the key in the blood then picks it up and locks the room up
• She tries to wash the blood off the key but it is a magic key and the blood returns as quickly as she can wash it off
• Suddenly Blue Beard makes a surprise re-appearance back from his trip and immediately spots the blood on the key
• Blue Beard threatens to kill his wife so that she can join the other wives in the chamber
• She begs for a few minutes’ grace to say her prayers, a request that Blue Beard grants
• During this time the wife calls on her sister and brothers
• Her brothers appear in the nick of time and kill Blue Beard
• Blue Beard’s wife inherited his estate, gave part of the money to her brothers, part to her sister so that she could marry someone, and the last part as dowry to another man; they lived happily ever after

If this story has interested you, take a look at some analysis from literary critics or the alternative version from the Bela Bartok opera.

To read more about our October 30 Hallowe’en spectacular “Le Chateau de Barbe-Bleue” or to book tickets,  click here.

Find within the original Blue Beard story as written by Charles Perrault. If you would prefer to read a shorter version of the story, please check Barbe Bleue abbreviated.

To read more about our October 30 Hallowe’en spectacular “Le Chateau de Barbe-Bleue” or to book tickets,  click here.

The full Blue Beard story – as written by Charles Perrault

There was once a man who had fine houses, both in town and country, a deal of silver and gold plate, embroidered furniture, and coaches gilded all over with gold. But this man was so unlucky as to have a blue beard, which made him so frightfully ugly that all the women and girls ran away from him.

One of his neighbors, a lady of quality, had two daughters who were perfect beauties. He desired of her one of them in marriage, leaving to her choice which of the two she would bestow on him. Neither of them would have him, and they sent him backwards and forwards from one to the other, not being able to bear the thoughts of marrying a man who had a blue beard. Adding to their disgust and aversion was the fact that he already had been married to several wives, and nobody knew what had become of them.

Bluebeard, to engage their affection, took them, with their mother and three or four ladies of their acquaintance, with other young people of the neighborhood, to one of his country houses, where they stayed a whole week.

The time was filled with parties, hunting, fishing, dancing, mirth, and feasting. Nobody went to bed, but all passed the night in rallying and joking with each other. In short, everything succeeded so well that the youngest daughter began to think that the man’s beard was not so very blue after all, and that he was a mighty civil gentleman.

As soon as they returned home, the marriage was concluded. About a month afterwards, Bluebeard told his wife that he was obliged to take a country journey for six weeks at least, about affairs of very great consequence. He desired her to divert herself in his absence, to send for her friends and acquaintances, to take them into the country, if she pleased, and to make good cheer wherever she was.

“Here,” said he,” are the keys to the two great wardrobes, wherein I have my best furniture. These are to my silver and gold plate, which is not everyday in use. These open my strongboxes, which hold my money, both gold and silver; these my caskets of jewels. And this is the master key to all my apartments. But as for this little one here, it is the key to the closet at the end of the great hall on the ground floor. Open them all; go into each and every one of them, except that little closet, which I forbid you, and forbid it in such a manner that, if you happen to open it, you may expect my just anger and resentment.”

She promised to observe, very exactly, whatever he had ordered. Then he, after having embraced her, got into his coach and proceeded on his journey.

Her neighbors and good friends did not wait to be sent for by the newly married lady. They were impatient to see all the rich furniture of her house, and had not dared to come while her husband was there, because of his blue beard, which frightened them. They ran through all the rooms, closets, and wardrobes, which were all so fine and rich that they seemed to surpass one another.

After that, they went up into the two great rooms, which contained the best and richest furniture. They could not sufficiently admire the number and beauty of the tapestry, beds, couches, cabinets, stands, tables, and looking glasses, in which you might see yourself from head to foot; some of them were framed with glass, others with silver, plain and gilded, the finest and most magnificent that they had ever seen.

They ceased not to extol and envy the happiness of their friend, who in the meantime in no way diverted herself in looking upon all these rich things, because of the impatience she had to go and open the closet on the ground floor. She was so much pressed by her curiosity that, without considering that it was very uncivil for her to leave her company, she went down a little back staircase, and with such excessive haste that she nearly fell and broke her neck.

Having come to the closet door, she made a stop for some time, thinking about her husband’s orders, and considering what unhappiness might attend her if she was disobedient; but the temptation was so strong that she could not overcome it. She then took the little key, and opened it, trembling. At first she could not see anything plainly, because the windows were shut. After some moments she began to perceive that the floor was all covered over with clotted blood, on which lay the bodies of several dead women, ranged against the walls. (These were all the wives whom Bluebeard had married and murdered, one after another.) She thought she should have died for fear, and the key, which she, pulled out of the lock, fell out of her hand.

After having somewhat recovered her surprise, she picked up the key, locked the door, and went upstairs into her chamber to recover; but she could not, so much was she frightened. Having observed that the key to the closet was stained with blood, she tried two or three times to wipe it off; but the blood would not come out; in vain did she wash it, and even rub it with soap and sand. The blood still remained, for the key was magical and she could never make it quite clean; when the blood was gone off from one side, it came again on the other.

Bluebeard returned from his journey the same evening, saying that he had received letters upon the road, informing him that the affair he went about had concluded to his advantage. His wife did all she could to convince him that she was extremely happy about his speedy return.

The next morning he asked her for the keys, which she gave him, but with such a trembling hand that he easily guessed what had happened.

“What!” said he, “is not the key of my closet among the rest?”

“I must,” said she, “have left it upstairs upon the table.”

“Fail not,” said Bluebeard, “to bring it to me at once.”

After several goings backwards and forwards, she was forced to bring him the key. Bluebeard, having very attentively considered it, said to his wife, “Why is there blood on the key?”

“I do not know,” cried the poor woman, paler than death.

“You do not know!” replied Bluebeard. “I very well know. You went into the closet, did you not? Very well, madam; you shall go back, and take your place among the ladies you saw there.”

Upon this she threw herself at her husband’s feet, and begged his pardon with all the signs of a true repentance, vowing that she would never more be disobedient. She would have melted a rock, so beautiful and sorrowful was she; but Bluebeard had a heart harder than any rock!

“You must die, madam,” said he, “at once.”

“Since I must die,” answered she (looking upon him with her eyes all bathed in tears), “give me some little time to say my prayers.”

“I give you,” replied Bluebeard, “half a quarter of an hour, but not one moment more.”

When she was alone she called out to her sister, and said to her, “Sister Anne” (for that was her name), “go up, I beg you, to the top of the tower, and look if my brothers are not coming. They promised me that they would come today, and if you see them, give them a sign to make haste.”

Her sister Anne went up to the top of the tower, and the poor afflicted wife cried out from time to time, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?”

And sister Anne said, “I see nothing but a cloud of dust in the sun, and the green grass.”

In the meanwhile Bluebeard, holding a great saber in his hand, cried out as loud as he could bawl to his wife, “Come down instantly, or I shall come up to you.”

“One moment longer, if you please,” said his wife; and then she cried out very softly, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see anybody coming?”

And sister Anne answered, “I see nothing but a cloud of dust in the sun, and the green grass.”

“Come down quickly,” cried Bluebeard, “or I will come up to you.”

“I am coming,” answered his wife; and then she cried, “Anne, sister Anne, do you not see anyone coming?”

“I see,” replied sister Anne, “a great cloud of dust approaching us.”

“Are they my brothers?”

“Alas, no my dear sister, I see a flock of sheep.”

“Will you not come down?” cried Bluebeard.

“One moment longer,” said his wife, and then she cried out, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see nobody coming?”

“I see,” said she, “two horsemen, but they are still a great way off.”

“God be praised,” replied the poor wife joyfully. “They are my brothers. I will make them a sign, as well as I can for them to make haste.”

Then Bluebeard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble. The distressed wife came down, and threw herself at his feet, all in tears, with her hair about her shoulders.

“This means nothing,” said Bluebeard. “You must die!” Then, taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up the sword with the other, he prepared to strike off her head. The poor lady, turning about to him, and looking at him with dying eyes, desired him to afford her one little moment to recollect herself.

“No, no,” said he, “commend yourself to God,” and was just ready to strike.

At this very instant there was such a loud knocking at the gate that Bluebeard made a sudden stop. The gate was opened, and two horsemen entered. Drawing their swords, they ran directly to Bluebeard. He knew them to be his wife’s brothers, one a dragoon, the other a musketeer; so that he ran away immediately to save himself; but the two brothers pursued and overtook him before he could get to the steps of the porch. Then they ran their swords through his body and left him dead. The poor wife was almost as dead as her husband, and had not strength enough to rise and welcome her brothers.

Bluebeard had no heirs, and so his wife became mistress of all his estate. She made use of one part of it to marry her sister Anne to a young gentleman who had loved her a long while; another part to buy captains’ commissions for her brothers, and the rest to marry herself to a very worthy gentleman, who made her forget the ill time she had passed with Bluebeard.

If this story has interested you, take a look at some analysis from literary critics or the alternative version from the Bela Bartok opera.

To read more about our October 30 Hallowe’en spectacular “Le Chateau de Barbe-Bleue” or to book tickets,  click here.