The eerie ethereal sounds of the theramin were a fortuitous forewarning to any audience member not yet familiar with the dark cabaret of the Tiger Lillies.
Based on the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe this performance contains songs based on Poe`s poems and stories, as well as original material. Elder Hall is transformed into a seemingly haunted place through the use of wonderful lighting, projection, and clever set design. Poe frantically travels through this nightmarish world in search of the special ink that the raven has seduced him into using, and without which he cannot write.
This hard to define trio ( Brechtian, punk, avantgarde, contemporary vaudeville all come to mind) present the Haunted Palace. This is a journey through the tragic life and strange mind of Poe. We are confronted by his poems, stories, and events from his life around every corner, behind every door.The show features the falsetto-voiced founder and song writer Martyn Jacques as the evil raven-like character on accordion and piano (and other stranger instruments), Adrian Stout on theremin, double bass and musical saw, and Jonas Golland on drums, percussion and backing vocals. They are joined by actors who play the parts of Poe and the raven`s rather scary assistant Doris, as well as other, doomed, female characters. The costumes, and make-up, are suitably surreal.
After 90 minutes of menacing hilarity the audience seemed to have been rendered almost too nervous to request an encore, but the Tiger Lillies laconically returned and wowed us with, of course, a song based upon the poem of The Raven.
5K
RCC Elder Hall until 10th March.
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