FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sex and Death -- what a
combo! Spiritualism was all the rage around the turn of the 20th century, and
rambunctious “spirits” sometimes groped the participants during a séance. (The spirits
were a medium’s accomplices moving around in the dark.)
BEYOND THE VEIL concerns
a Victorian scientist, WILLIAM ROYCE, who engages in elaborate “experiments”
with a medium under the guise of communicating with a dead lover. A hothouse
atmosphere of ethereal, suppressed sexuality develops as ROYCE explores a world
of love in death, with lots of dramatic twists before the eerie and startling
conclusion. The show uses many virtual multimedia effects, as well as extensive period costumes,
designed by Roi Escudero "Bubi.”
Chatterton loosely based BEYOND THE VEIL on the life of Sir William Crookes, a famous scientist of his time. Crookes did extensive experiments with a psychic called Florence Cooke. He even took photographs of himself arm-in-arm with Cooke’s spirit control, Katie King. It has been put about that Crookes concocted the phenomena surrounding the medium so he could keep her under his roof (and his wife’s nose!), in order to have an affair with her.
BEYOND THE VEIL, a joint project of Chatterton and La Muse Vénale Acting Troupe, will be performed at Where Eagles Dare, 347 W. 36th St. (ground floor) from Feb. 2 - 26, 2006. Showtimes are Thurs. through Sat. at 8 p.m. and Sun. at 2 p.m. Tickets, at $18, are available on SmartTix, at www.smarttix.com or 212/868-4444, or at the door.