Dwelling in the strange light of speculative times, Dead Cat Bounce is a story of unpayable debts, entangled histories and repeated jokes.
Staged within a sculptural installation at Soft Ground, the performance takes the form of an oratorio, a mode of baroque performance in which instruments and voice are used to tell a sacred narrative. Produced by Arts Catalyst, this performance will happen as part of No Bounds Festival.
The work unfolds over five interwoven vignettes of pre-emptive catastrophe. In China (2016), five hitmen arrive in court to discover that they have each subcontracted another to kill the same real estate developer. At the palace of Louis XVI (1788), thirty Swiss virgins are having their teeth checked in order to secure the national debt. In Miami (2027), an insurance broker redrafts a contract for a house that is already underwater. In Jerusalem (589 BC), the prophet Jeremiah weeps incessantly for the impending wrath of an unforgiving god. In earthquake-struck Japan (1855), a brothel-owner pays tribute to a catfish deity as she surveys the sunlit ruins of the city.
Musically, the work draws loosely on Jomelli’s Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah, interpreted through Waste Paper Opera’s approach bringing together the absurd with the sacred, improvisatory elements and scored material.
Following the performance, over the course of six weeks Dead Cat Bounce will continue in the form of an exhibition at Soft Ground featuring a multi-channel audio installation.
Tickets for the performance on 12 October are included in the weekend festival pass for No Bounds. A limited number of tickets for this performance only are available via Eventbrite.
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