Worlds End by Curious

As part of the InTransit Festival

…a walking cabaret evening of strong currents, potent drinks and local legend as part of the InTransit Festival.

Over three weeks in June, local World’s End residents (the neighbourhood surrounding Chelsea Theatre) were invited to answer this question; WHAT WAS YOUR JOURNEY TO WORLD’S END?  The answers will form the basis of a cabaret performance in various locations around the World’s End Estate and Chelsea Theatre.

 Worlds End aims to create unique and exciting community engagement; local people’s stories and locations become the jumping off point for our hosts, internationally acclaimed performance company ‘Curious’, in a urban twist of the project ‘Slipstreaming’ which was first developed at the RSC in Stratford Upon Avon.

The romantic but spatially challenged cruise director Miss Paris guides the evening with reckless abandon, as sultry chanteuse Cloudy Shoreline lures us closer with her Siren Song and the philosophical Purser Hill flairs her famous ‘oblivion’ cocktails while inviting us to contemplate the World’s End accompanied by the swirling sounds of the Slipstream Band.  

As part of this project, acclaimed photographer Hugo Glendinning has been commissioned by Chelsea Theatre to take a series of twelve portraits of local residents. Taken in a location of their choice, the portraits will illustrate the diverse journeys that have brought residents to World’s End. They will be hung in a permanent exhibition at Chelsea Theatre, in order to create a lasting legacy and a physical link to the community in the building. These will be unveiled at the launch of the InTransit Festival on 12^th July.

Leslie Hill and Helen Paris called their company Curious because what drives them as artists is an intense curiosity about the world in which they live. Since 1996, they have developed a reputation for their edgy, humorous interrogations of contemporary culture and politics, work that has been called as smart as it is seductive. As Curious, they have produced over forty projects in a range of disciplines including performance, installation, publication and film.

Hugo Glendinning has been working as a photographer for twenty-five years. He has worked with most leading British theatre and dance companies and is regularly commissioned by The RSC, National Theatre, Royal Opera House and many West End theatre producers. He has published and exhibited work internationally, notably his continuing project of documentation and the investigation of performance photography with Forced Entertainment.

The end of the world is neither here nor there

You will always be recalled by the way you wore your hair

So steady your sea legs and step aboard – destination? World’s End.

For more information about the InTransit festival taking place across the borough please visit  www.rbkc.gov.uk/intransit

26^th, 27^th and 28^th July 2012 at Chelsea Theatre

8.30pm (2hs)

Price: £8 (£5 Concessions, £2 World’s End Residents)

Please note that the evening will contain an element of outdoor promenade so please bring a wrap.