Cast announced for fever dream circus adaptation of Angela Carter's THE BLOODY CHAMBER in Worthing

Photo credit: Russ Francis Photography

Casting has been announced today for Proteus Theatre’s adaptation of Angela Carter’s collection The Bloody Chamber (and Other Stories), running at Worthing’s Pavilion Theatre on 11 & 12 June.

Jessica Andrade (Around the World in 80 Days, UK tour), Megan Brooks (Igloo, Bristol Old Vic), Ashley Christmas (The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Hull Truck Theatre), Anesta Mathurin (Aida, ENO) and Lorraine Moynehan (Devisor: Nights at the Circus, Kneehigh) will feature in this fever dream production, which translates Angela Carter’s macabre fairy tales to the stage using circus as a physical vocabulary.

At a moment when women and men across the country confront the double standards of safety, sex, and the fears of what goes bump in the night, Carter’s incendiary caustic take on fairy tales as cautionary tales could not be a more formidable challenge to the status quo. The Bloody Chamber is a heady, erotic, and surprisingly funny rephrasing of the most famous stories in Western culture. These are the tales our mothers told us. And all the ones they didn’t dare.

Director Mary Swan said: “Women are always being told what we can and can’t do in order to avoid being assaulted, while on the other hand also promoting sexual fulfilment by catering to the male gaze. We give this advice to young women all the time; why the hell should we have to? Circus inverts the world: defying gravity, contorting the bounds of physical movement and embracing the human connection to do the impossible. It’s perfect for making familiar situations entirely surreal and surreal situations quite familiar; it’s perfect for challenging what’s socially accepted for no good reason. Carter’s fantastical, theatrical, lyrical stories are beautifully transfigured by circus.”

Proteus Theatre are working with leading figures in the circus industry to choreograph the piece including Mimbre’s Silvia Fratelli, Charlotte Mooney from Ockham’s Razor and Tamzen Moulding the Artistic Director of Inverted Theatre.

The Bloody Chamber also features an original soundtrack with musical direction, arrangements and sound design by Max Reinhardt and original composition by Paul Wild.

For more information and to book tickets, please click here.