THE SHOW

“Everything I touch turns to JOY!
My blood is RUBY,
my tears are DIAMONDS and my sweat is SAPPHIRE”

In an empty cathedral, a prostitute vacuums the floor. A lonely clown searches. They sing. Chant. Dance. Wail. The little girl and her papa are on their way to the airport.

Movement, clowning, polyphonic singing and new writing collide in this haunting ode to womanhood. Drawing upon the experiences of its five female creators, The Cathedral is a devised exploration of the struggle for acceptance in both religious and non-religious institutions. 

Ritualised oppression meets the breath-taking power of communal prayer. The empty space is transformed into a confessional; into a crucible of sexuality; into a dreamlike pit of shame and redemption.

THE COMPANY

We are the Vandens Karta Ensemble, a physical theatre company born on the East 15 Contemporary Theatre course in 2018. Our aim is to create urgent and multi-disciplined theatre combining dance, music, original writing, clowning and many more diverse forms.

We are currently in the process of developing The Cathedral, a devised show in which we address issues such as sexual abuse, religion, violence and the relationship between spirituality and sexuality.

We are delighted to have been invited to perform the show at the upcoming SPRINT Festival at the Camden People’s Theatre in September. We are also doing a preview show at the brilliant Actors East. We are hoping to use this crowdfunding platform and our incredible community in order to cover artists’ fees and production costs and ensure this show sees the light.

If you would like to see the production, tickets can be purchased here.

THE WORK

The Cathedral was born as a scratch performance at the Launch Festival 2019 and has been a work-in-progress ever since.

We underwent an intensive 2-week residency at an artists’ commune in Pontinvrea, Italy in September 2020. We reworked the show extensively during this period, finding new ideas and extending the piece. 

We will now need to revisit and re-rehearse what we have so far and develop the show before the performance.

This performance at the Camden People's Theatre will be crucial in helping us attract venues and programmers from across the UK for a national tour in 2022/23.

Photography credits: Giulia Ferrando