'Caligula' is a new performance piece born from the brain of The Danger Ensemble’s brazen Steven Mitchell Wright.
The show is a provocative collaboration with some of Brisbane’s most talented singers, dancers and actors, which, despite its title, won’t be a documentary drama or a Caligula musical but much more. Singer Lucinda Shaw is part of the performance and shares her behind-closed-doors stories to allow us to find out a little more about the show.
Steven has been collecting performers throughout the year like a series of chess pieces, each one to take up a square at the Judith Wright Centre when the show begins. Lucinda joined the team around Easter and will be lending her lungs to the show. “Steven collects people who understand and get excited by the aesthetic of The Danger Ensemble. He invites people who he feels can offer a new energy and a new dynamic to the company.”
Lucinda mentioned that The Smiths song ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ planted the seed with the lyric “What she asked of me at the end of the day/ Caligula would have blushed.” This posed the question and the ideas developed from there. Once the ball was rolling, other provocative figures throughout history were included in the process. “As part of Caligula we've also been reading about Charles Manson … characters who speak to the edges of human experience and who have become famous for that. Also the notion that artists and cultural figures can report from the edges that perhaps everyday people might not go to but at the same time might wonder about. Any of us make moral decisions on what we find acceptable or not. I guess we're coming from our own cultural baggage and so this will just highlight that and make people consider it.”
The Danger Ensemble has become known for questioning the moral compass of society and invites their viewers through a non-linear narrative to interpret what they see from their own and experiences. “When Lewis Jones commissioned ‘Caligula’ I think he believed that new work can be stimulating in the community and really wanted to invite a new work that is evocative, that is stimulating, that is dynamic. He's known The Danger Ensemble for some time and he really wanted to progress the development of work by them.” The soundscape of the show will also be of a provoking nature featuring music from the aforementioned The Smiths as well as artists like Tool, Jason Webley and one pop song that Lucinda wanted to leave as a surprise. Just as rousing will be the costumery. Pushing for all the goss on the costumes was unsuccessful with all Ms. Shaw sharing was the fact that it will be visually shocking and inspired by the Club Kids movement of the late ’80s/ early ’90s so the advertising is only a hint of what’s to come.
If you’ve enjoyed any of The Danger Ensemble’s other work, Lucinda’s work from Silver Sircus, or you’re generally an open-minded, thrillseeker who is looking for a dynamic, stimulating and evocative performance then it’s definitely up your alley. “I won't say 'don't bring your granny' because I think it's a very intelligent so anybody who's has some intelligence would love it. But don't bring your most conservative family member. It’s for anybody who says they're sick of boring theatre because it won't be boring and it won't be safe.”
'Caligula' will be at The Judith Wright Centre from July 4 – 12.
