Cageling Opens At CarriageWorks
New visual theatre exploring repression, monsters, sexuality and the feminine
Presented by THE RABBLE in association with CarriageWorks
To be born a woman is the worst punishment… Here begins a surreal nightmare of four daughters trapped by their mother’s rage. Inspired by Lorca’s classic text The House of Bernarda Alba, Cageling is at once grotesque and sublime; a piece of visual theatre that explores repression, monsters, sexuality and the feminine.
After the success of Salome: In Cogito Volume III in 2008 and Corvus in 2007, THE RABBLE return to CarriageWorks with Cageling: an achingly beautiful and hauntingly dark theatrical experience. Cageling is the third new work that THE RABBLE have presented in association with CarriageWorks, its premiere season was held in May at FortyFive Downstairs in Melbourne.
CarriageWorks CEO, Sue Hunt says We are delighted to again be working with such a young, innovative performance company who are making rich new work. Part of our mission at CarriageWorks is to provide a home for artists to develop and present their work in an inspiring and creative atmosphere, and to support emerging artists so the process of creativity can be fully explored. THE RABBLE fit this bill with their exciting, challenging and experimental approach to theatre.
Alba (played by Daniel Schlusser) is a monster, a brute who has nothing but contempt for her children. Set on an outback property that has been ravaged by fire, Alba is the ruler of the roost. The daughters have slipped into various states of delirium: Amelia is sick and sucks oxygen from a tube, her twin Magdalena struts around like a pony, grinding against her sisters for satisfaction, Martirio died in a fire, her burnt body sits in a jar, Angustias is the oldest and ugliest daughter and has grown a beard in protest, Adela, the youngest, howls at the moon. Werewolves and ghosts haunt the surrounds, someone is locked in the downstairs cupboard and no one can find Pepe el Romano after he fucked each of the daughters behind the chicken coop.
THE RABBLE was formed in 2006 by Syd Brisbane, Kate Davis and Emma Valente and is an ongoing conversation about theatrical aesthetic, process and thematics, between its artistic directors: Kate Davis and Emma Valente. THE RABBLE’s theatre exists in the world of dreams and nightmares, each text is revealed and brutally examined through this sensibility. THE RABBLE’s work has been described as epic, experimental, experiential, visceral, visual, surreal, brash, grotesque, magical, ambitious and original.
Created, Designed and Directed by Emma Valente and Kate Davis; With Daniel Schlusser, Dana Miltins, Mary Helen Sassman, Jayne Tuttle, Pier Carthew; Dramaturg Dan Spielman; Sound Designer/Composer M.Davis; Contributing Artists Daisy Noyes, Lisa Hoebartner, Emily Adinolfi.
- Cageling by THE RABBLE
- Preview Thursday 24 June at 8pm
- Season Friday 25 June – Saturday 3 July | Tuesday – Saturday at 8pm
- Tickets $22 Concession / $30 Full | Preview: $15 flat
- Venue CarriageWorks, 245 Wilson Street Eveleigh | Train: Redfern or Macdonaldtown
- Bookings carriageworks.com.au | Ticketmaster 1300 823 038
- More Info carriageworks.com.au | therabble.com.au
Media Enquiries
Emma Collison Publicity, 02 9362 9700, 0418 584 795, emma@emmacollison.com
This is a theatre of dream frustration and nightmare, seeking to tap the unconscious in parallel ways to Lorca’s surreal lyrics… fascinating, frustrating, beautiful. Alison Croggon, Theatre Notes
Comments on previous productions by THE RABBLE
Finally, finally, finally I have found a group of young Australian theatre makers who are pushing the boundaries of theatrical exploration. Nicholas Pickard, sydneyartsjournalist
Salome eclipses 90% of tranquillising soap opera that masquerades as theatre in this town. Jason Blake, Sydney Morning Herald
It confirms my suspicion that this is a company to watch. Alison Croggon, theatrenotes