Bombers / The Nine Shanks / Opium: The Confessions of Thomas De Quincey
Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something.
Frank Zappa
Live bands: Bombers / The Nine Shanks
Guest DJ’s: Han Duo / Theatre of the Absurd
Resident DJ’s: Stevie K / Mix Master Mack
Visuals: VJ Delsyd
Compere: Kevin Campbell
Plus a one man theatre show: Opium: The Confessions of Thomas De Quincey – on stage at 8:30pm. Details below.
Opium: The Confessions of Thomas De Quincey is a one-man show which will star established West Midlands actor in the titular role. Set the year 1843, we find de Quincey ailing due to a lifelong addiction to opium and the despair caused by the death of his eldest son Horace, who was killed the previous year fighting in the Opium War against imperial China.
The play itself takes its basic structure from de Quincey’s own Confessions of an English Opium Eater, regaling the audience with our hero’s first tentative steps into opium eating. De Quincey is at times humourous, almost self-deprecating when describing his experiences of the drug and life in general – refusing to be drawn into self-pity.
As the play progresses de Quincey’s mood and behaviour becomes ever more erratic. He is heavily under the influence of opium and his intake of the drug is at an all-time high. In many scenes de Quincey suffers hallucinations, usually these are images from his past and they either haunt him or delight him, depending on their nature. There is a particularly touching scene where de Quincey sees his beloved sister, whose death in childhood greatly marked his early life.
Sometimes the subject of the hallucination is shown to the audience, as when de Quincey talks to his recently deceased son, but usually the stage is empty save for de Quincey.
See you all there x
