Tale of Two Harpies
- About the Work
- Touring & Tech
- Marketing & Engagement
Tale of Two Harpies is a wicked yarn with lashings of hilarity. This is dark clowning at its finest.
Synopsis
Tale of Two Harpies is a wicked yarn, a dark fantastical comedy about two displaced characters who are on the run from an evil-doing they have done. Eerie and freakish with lashings of hilarity, it’s like someone poured black paint over a Dr. Seuss book.
These two vagabonds will charm you with their stupidity and keep you enthralled with a parade of sight gags and circus tropes underpinned by a foundation of an intelligent examination of the human condition. Entertaining to make money to survive, they try to elude their dark past, but it continues to haunt them.
A dark comedy interrogating the ruthlessness in relationships, a slapstick voyage of survival, an enticing work with an original vision.
Derived from the old traveling shows with their rich history of political commentary and dissent, this is a modern-day traveling theatre, combining meticulous physicality with a transformative set.
As you watch in horror you’ll try not to laugh – this is dark clowning at its finest.
Short Reviews
Anni Davey, Artistic Director; Flying Fruit Fly Circus
Video
Technical Information
Lighting
Lighting
The show comes with a generic lighting plan and lighting cue sheets that are flexible for smaller venues or will supply a more technically complex venue-specific lighting plan and show file where appropriate.
The company will tour a small number of practical lighting elements.
The presenter also needs to provide basic work lights for the stage area and house lights for the audience.
COMPANY TO SUPPLY
- A generic lighting plan within the technical specifications document.
- A venue-specific lighting plan (where agreed) two weeks prior to the performance.
- Onstage practical lighting includes: Festoon lighting and Battery powered lamps
PRESENTER TO SUPPLY
- All other fixtures as per lighting plan with any substitutions to be discussed prior to pre-rig.
- Minimum 72 dimmers (for an all conventional lighting rig, with LED front and onstage wash this can be reduced to less than 48)
- The venue must be pre-rigged, patched, colored, and flashed prior to company arrival.
Audio
The company would use the in-house sound system at each venue.
No microphones, mixing desks etc are required.
Foldback speakers required
Staging
Tale of Two Harpies has four movable set pieces/carts/trolleys on wheels that are used throughout the show.
The show is quite self-contained.
If there is access to the stage from a dock then we would pre-set the four pieces in the dock and enter from the dock. We adapt the show according to the venue.
No rigging is required.
We do use a hazer.
Crew Notes
N/A
Transport Notes
The set/production travels in our two cars or in a 1-tonne van.
Currently, it cannot travel by plane.
Audience & Marketing Notes
This work was made for a general public audience. perfectly suited for folk anywhere from 10 years old to 100+ years.
The premiere season in Albury/Wodonga Tale Of Two Harpies delighted 12-year-old Lillian Dyball who sat in her wheelchair front row and screamed with delight whilst 84-year old David Lester said it was “The most he had laughed in a very long time.”
Derived from the old traveling vaudeville and circus shows with their rich history of political commentary and dissent, performers take on an ambitious experiment in maintaining the concept of a lightweight tour-able contemporary traveling theatre. The show’s physicality is uniquely choreographed and inspired by the old rag-doll slapstick routines and vaudeville greats.
Tale Of Two Harpies will appeal to young, old, circus and physical theatre fans, music fans, people with a taste for the nostalgic, old-world charm. historians, clowning, a good old mysterious tale. The work encapsulates themes of loneliness and isolation, fear of the unknown, which are all very relatable and resonate for the times we have lived in recently with Covid-19 and lockdowns and border closures. The show explores themes of displacement and homelessness which are prevalent in society today.
Selling Points
- Physical comedy, clowning and slapstick
- Unique Family theatre experience
- Bespoke costumes, props and puppets
- Innovative movable/transforming set
- Carnival/Vaudeville aesthetic.
Community Engagement
Details
Genre
Audience
8 years old to 80+
Venue Format
Black Box, Flat Floor, Hall, Proscenium Arch, Big Shed.
Duration
55 minutes Minutes
Available Until (from - to)
01/11/2024
Budget & Fees
What are these? Find out more.In Development - work which will be produced and premiered in time for touring during 2022/2023. Please contact the Producer directly for Budgets and Fees.
Remount: $7,300
Weekly Sell Off: $12,800
Per Performance: $5,500
