‘Welcome to the Lounge Limbo…you are neither here nor there…happy hour is
between midnight and midnight…our hostesses will see to your every need…the doors are locked now…and they will not open again…so…relax…take a seat…and let the show begin.”
Set in a secret bar, a club, a speak easy, in a country smothered by war The Dancer and The Devil presents a cabaret of those displaced, those who have had to hide, to run away from their past lives with hastily packed cases bursting with secrets and stories.
Bright, sparkling and full of comic mischief The Dancer and The Devil invites you to lose yourself in a world of twisted cabaret, the smell of woodsmoke and perfume, the taste of danger, and the wild thrill of the forest.
Meet Cupcakes our Murderous Master Baker, Minue who’ll be whoever you want her to be, Ruby the jewel that fell from the crown, Celeste who’ll dance the maps of your heart, Jacob; Mysterious Master of Ceremony and Laverna who’ll get the fire blazing.
“Imagine yourself however you want to be; beautiful if you are not, rich if
you are poor, great if you are small, powerful if you have no power
I don’t mind as long as you pay…I don’t mind as long as you stay.
With writing and text written for The Dancer and The Devil by Anna Maria Murphy (Kneehigh Theatre; Red Shoes, Trystan and Yseult, National Theatre and BBC Radio 4) and resplendent live music by Julian Gaskell (Julian Gaskell and the Ragged Trousered Philanthropists).
Rogue Theatre are delighted to have received development funding for The Dancer and the Devil from The Lowry, Salford and Prema Arts Centre, Uley. We would like to thank BAC for supporting the original scratch performance of the show in May 2010 and give special thanks to Gordon Scott and Porl Cooper for their ongoing passion and support!
Meanwhile, Celeste (Gemma Kempthorne) is the dancer who most captures your heart, as she can twirl fans and suitcases with equal creativity. Her companion, Cupcakes (Becky Bordeaux), makes the audience laugh. She is also incredibly gutsy, as she is spun on a wheel which determines whether of not audience member, Jason, does or does not win a prize.
The show grips your soul. It is a never-ending spectacle of showmanship – garish, glittering, imaginative, surprising and, at the end, devastating.
The Dancer and The Devil’s haunting atmosphere and the disciplines which bring it together are, in my opinion, art personified. Wonderful!
- Julia Taylor
