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Sub Rosa
Written and directed by David Leddy Lighting Installation by Nich Smith Sound design by Graham Sutherland
Trailer from the original production (January 2009): Sub Rosa is the bastard theatrical child of Stephen King and Marie Lloyd. This gothic Victorian promenade show takes a small audience on a late-night tour of an empty buidling. Theatre ghosts lead us through hidden rooms, into a derelict bar and beneath the stage. The tiny old rooms are lit with glittering pinpricks of light that intensify the darkness beyond. Eventually we reach the blood-red velvet seating of the disused upper circle in the empty, echoing auditorium. Out of the shadows comes a motley crew of sopranos, hoofers, chorines and wig-masters. They tell a haunting, mournful and darkly comic tale of yet another chorus girl burning to death beneath the stage while the show carried on above her head. Can somebody put a stop to these incidents? Will there be a bloodthirsty coup or a red velvet revolution? The management are literally getting away with murder… The piece is named after sub rosa, the legal terminology for secrecy (a sub rosa meeting, for example) which has its roots in Greek myth – Aphrodite’s rose was given to the god of silence to keep her sexual indiscretions secret. In the middle ages a rose suspended over a council meeting denoted secrecy. Roses are frequently carved on Christian confessionals and the term has recently come back into fashion in political circles, particularly in the Scottish Executive. Indeed all the characters are named after breeds of rose such as Ida McCracken, Svaty Vaclav and Charles Hunter.
Sub Rosa extras (deleted scenes, virtual photo tour of the Citz, rehearsal photos) - click here
19 - 31 January 2009, Citizen's Theatre, Glasgow Performed by Cora Bissett, Angela Darcy, Louise Ludgate, David Magowan, Alison Peebles, Finlay Welsh
* * * * * ‘Brilliant… haunting… magnificent… stunning’ The Scotsman * * * * ‘Ravishing… the chilling power of the script… exquisite performances’ The Guardian * * * * ‘Compelling… brilliant… cunningly seductive’ Financial Times * * * * * ‘Something special… skill, style, suspense and panache’ Metro * * * * ‘Tremendous… chilling… vivid and superbly-cadenced’ The Herald
IMAGES (from original production, January 2009):
Sub Rosa extras (deleted scenes, virtual photo tour of the Citz, rehearsal photos) - click here
SUB ROSA - TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION FOR PROMOTERS:
Sub Rosa is an impressive promenade piece within a large-scale lighting and sound installation which takes time to set up but which runs on suprisingly light technical staffing during performance.
Venue: Backstage in an old theatre (preferably Victorian, preferably looking dilapidated). Newer venues can sometimes be dressed to give dilapidated effect. 5 sites and walking route between them are needed. Sites are flexible, the original version used: scenery dock, under the stage, wardrobe department, small public bar, auditorium upper balcony. Preferably walking route would never double back and walk back along the same route twice.
Capacity: Flexible, depending on size of spaces. Original version took 16 people, leaving every 20 minutes, giving 7 performances per night.
Set-up time and staffing: Flexible. Original version used approx five staff over a two week period, but this could be reduced.
Performance staffing: 6 actors, 2 technicians, Approx 8 tour guides (preferably local acting students trained and paid as FOH staff for the venue).
Technical equipment: Lighting: Large-scale lighting design, flexibly redesigned for each venue. Sound: Venue’s own sound equipment (flexible) supplemented by ten domestic sound systems (provided by Fire Exit / David Leddy)
Email to discuss availability and flexibility of presentation: info ['at' symbol'] DavidLeddy [dot] com
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