ABOUT US

FoolishPeople create theatre, collaborative events, live art, music & film. We curate and engineer immersive experiences that have the power to raise a numinous experience within the spectator. In 2010, FoolishPeople founded the Weaponized imprint to extend our immersive art into the realm of publishing. Over a number of years, we have developed a unique practice, Theatre of Manifestation. We combine mythology, shamanism, drama therapy, strategic forecasting and open source collaboration in the creation of this work. Each piece takes form by merging text, performance, sound, art, light and the building itself to create a unique, dreamlike world that living characters inhabit. Our audience must choose their own journey without guidance, a technique that challenges their habitual way of watching art and entertainment in a conventional manner. Static consumption is not possible, active engagement and participation is vital and absolutely necessary. Each audience member will have their own personal experience inside the piece and will absorb different installations and parts of the narrative in a non-linear fashion. Fragments, which the witness will use to construct their own reality. This structure allows for an intimate interaction with our art that can be a powerful, compelling and a liberating experience, though sometimes uncomfortable, as the content may challenge and stir powerful emotions within the spectator. These accumulate in our ultimate aim to initiate an expansion in consciousness within the individual, for positive change. John Harrigan founded FoolishPeople in 1989, taking its name from the Fool major arcana of the tarot. The Fool encourages us to walk our own path, not the path of the 'herd', to become a free spirit, free from societal constraints, who is able to let go of outmoded beliefs and ideals. We have produced our work across a large variety of sites including conventional theatres, galleries and site specific venues. We have worked in prestigious cultural venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Arcola Theatre and the Horse Hospital in London, historical buildings like the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham, internationally to America and Amsterdam and worked for clients such as the BBC. Our core collective features five artists from England, America and the Czech Republic, which grows when we undertake new collaborations with worldwide artists in the development of our open source projects. If you would like to discuss a commission, collaboration or receive information on FoolishPeople workshops please email: art@foolishpeople.org

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REVIEWS
"The detail and beauty of this work is spellbinding, so that at times one loses all sense of where the performance begins and the truth ends... Each person coming to this piece will leave having experienced it differently, the more open you are to the enchantment within it, the more deeply you will be immersed...Its memory will stay with you long after it has ended. This is not simply a performance; it is an experience not to be missed. Gabriella Apicella, Remotegoat on 'A Red Threatening Sky' "Anyone who has lived at all will find moments that will be personally painful but this is a fascinating experience and it is performed with such reality by the actors that it is totally absorbing. Howard Loxton, The British Theatre Guide on 'A Red Threatening Sky' "This was one of many performances I have seen so far this year and a thoroughly enthralling performance it was...All the performers deserve a five star rating. Well directed. Heather Lenzan, RemoteGoat on 'A Red Threatening Sky' "The Abattoir Pages has a lot going for it...Architecture and art combine in unexpected ways, creating unsettling sights...It feels creepy and pagan. For curiosity value, this is unbeatable, and it's undoubtedly a memorable night out." Lyn Gardner, The Guardian on 'The Abattoir Pages' "A visit may uncover more than you expect or even wish as you wander through the chambers of this most fascinating space. To be given the opportunity to exist even for a short time in these powerful rooms stained with emotion, pain, suffering, and the very basest natures of life is a privilege, and The Abattoir Pages brings the voices and spirits contained within those walls out to play. Expectations, desires and preconceptions should be released as you walk through the doorway, and only then may their many mysteries be revealed to you this Halloween." Gabriella Apicella, Notes from the Underground on 'The Abattoir Pages' "Burton-esque, Poe-esque, Munch-esque, a distorted group of characters embodying the spirit of there being "nothing funny about clowns at midnight", lead you through a dreamlike promenade performance set in an atomically overshadowed 1950s circus...All the actors do a great job of being engaging, humorous, sympathetic or downright scary...Writer and director, John Harrigan deserves a lot of credit for the organisation of this brilliant cobweb of a performance. It's a great juggling act, worthy of the big top." Andy Marchant, Remotegoat on 'Cirxus' "The stark and industrial setting for this piece of promenade theatre is instantly eerie and unnerving...Harrigan completely smashes down the fourth wall as the audience, walking around the space, become entangled in the piece. The experience is simultaneously funny and disconcerting....Much of the excitement of this piece comes from its mystery, so I am loath to give anything else away. Cirxus is a place of the unknown and should remain so for those of you yet to enter this demented playground." Rachel Sheridan, What's On Stage on 'Cirxus' "An interesting addition to a growing genre." Andrew Haydon, TimeOut on 'Cirxus' "Dead Language imagines a future in which the work of art stars like Banksy is so popular that fans trade in the DNA of the artists themselves, creating clone gangs of Emins and Warhols that roam the city. In part, Dead Language is an investigation of the limits of intellectual property rights, but it also a smart and spirited examination of the way that the value of art shifts with time and context." Ekow Eshun, Artistic Director of the ICA on 'Dead Language' "The Singularity is nervous, convulsive, vividly compelling theatre. FoolishPeople engineer an exhilarating collision between Artaud and Cronenberg, to affect a total experience whose immersive power is deeply unsettling and relentlessly alive. This is a young company to watch... possibly from behind the sofa." Chris Goode, Playwright on 'The Singularity'

FoolishPeople.org

FoolishPeople.com

PAST PRODUCTIONS & PERFORMANCES

2010 The Basement- Ward 12, Princess Louise Hospital, London In association with Secret Cinema One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

A Red Threatening Sky, The Old Abattoir, London

2009 The Abattoir Pages, The Old Abattoir, London In association with Guerrilla Zoo

Cirxus, Arcola Theatre, London

2008 Terra:Extremitas, NDSM-werf, Amsterdam 2007 Dead Language, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London & Someday Lounge, Portland, USA

Desecration, Galleries of Justice, Nottingham In association with the Theatre of Ophidia Weaponised Art 3.0, Lazy Gramophone, The Luminaire, London Terra Incognita, 491 Gallery, London Ghost Redux, Vertigo Gallery, London
2006 Weaponised Art 2.0, Guerrilla Zoo, Corsica Arts Centre, London

Weaponised Art 1.0, Guerrilla Zoo, Corsica Arts Centre, London Dark Nights of the Soul: Cycle III, Unconvention festival, London
2005 Dr Bleach, Weird Weekend Festival, Devon 2004 Escape from RS1, Creative Swing, London 1994 Revelations: Fear the mind, Hertfordshire 1991 Enochian Language of Angels, Hertfordshire

RESIDENCIES
2005- 2006 Dark Nights Dark Nights Dark Nights Dark Nights Dark Nights Dark Nights The Horse Hospital, London of the Soul: Cycle VI - Carousel of the Soul Cycle V - Home of the Soul Cycle IV - Congealed of the Soul: Cycle III - Emergence of the Soul: Cycle II - The Fluid Flesh of the Soul: Cycle I - The Wrym Shroud

TOURS
2004 Ruined Steel Camden People's Theatre, Trestle Arts Base, University of Hertfordshire 2002 The Singularity Camden People's Theatre, The Barn Theatre, Baldock Hall

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FoolishPeople.com

SELECTED LECTURES & WORKSHOPS

2010 The Providence Experiments Theatre of Manifestation Workshop 2009 FoolishPeople Workshop in Performance and Myth Central School of Speech & Drama, London 2007 'Dead Language' Workshop & Lecture by John Harrigan Institute of Contemporary Arts, London Workshop Facilitator and Guest Speaker esoZone, Portland, Oregon, USA FoolishPeople Workshop in Performance and Myth British Broadcasting Corporation, Hertfordshire 2006-2008 John Harrigan Part-time Lecturer in Theatre Studies and Myth University of Hertfordshire 2006 Workshops in Myth & Magick, Treadwells, Covent Garden, London

PUBLICATIONS
2010 Cirxus by John Harrigan ISBN: 978-1-907810-00-8 Dead Language by John Harrigan ISBN: 978-1-907819-04-6 The Sparky Show by Xanadu Xero ISBN: 978-1-907810-02-2 Forum by Richard Webb ISBN: 978-1-907810-06-0 2008 Terra:Extremitas- A FoolishPeople Guide to the End of the Earth Anthology of Comic Art and Prose 2004 Ruined Steel: The Fleshlist Graphic Novel

MUSIC
Abattoir Pages Original Score CD A Red Threatening Sky Original Score CD

DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE

Listen to or download the Basement - Ward 12 Special Edition of the Weaponized Podcast @ Alterati.com. Secret Cinema presents One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest BBC Talking Movies From Russia With Love

AWARDS
The Times Top 5 Events for Dead Language The LondonPaper Top Event for Dead Language Dead Language featured as part of The London Lates Season of cultural events at major galleries and museums. Magi of Trygonia awarded to John Harrigan by the Dionysian Underground for Dark Nights Of The Soul Anthology of plays.

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FoolishPeople.com

The Basement Ward 12

November 2011 Princess Louise Hospital, London www.secretcinema.org 'The Basement Ward 12' was a sell-out production created in partnership with Secret Cinema for the November 2010 presentation of Milos Forman's 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. Ward 12 explored the background and history of author Ken Kesey's participation in CIA MKULTRA Mind Control experiments conducted at Stanford University on the use of psychoactive drugs such as LSD and how this in turn influenced the themes of institutionalization and mind control explored in the book and film. Ken Kesey's reported voluntary participation in the MKULTRA program 1959, his subsequent experimentation with drugs and his work as a night orderly at an asylum provided Kesey with the inspiration to write 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'. These first steps led to the important role he played in the sixties counter culture movement. Ken Kesey became one of the main proponents of sixties drug culture, the hippie movement and an enthusiastic supporter of its aims to instigate an alternative world view. Participants who entered Ward 12 at Secret Cinema were encouraged to take an active role in learning the truth of their own insanity. Were they part of a mythic MKULTRA test, or had they joined a family of patients who had fallen through the cracks of the system seeking escape via the basement beneath the Oregon State Hospital? Unexpectedly, they found themselves in a world inhabited by archetypes and characters who may or may not be figments of the imagination. Or was it a psychoactive side effect and symptom caused by long term treatment with a cocktail of powerful antipsychotic medications? Listen to or download the Basement - Ward 12 Special Edition of the Weaponized Podcast @ Alterati.com. View the Ward 12 Flickr photo set. YouTube documentary footage: Secret Cinema presents One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest BBC Talking Movies From Russia With Love Written by John Harrigan and Xanadu Xero Directed by John Harrigan Produced by Lucy Harrigan MKUltra video art by P. Emerson Williams, written by John Harrigan Cast Archie David Monard Doctor Armstrong P. Emerson Williams Doctor Tollhaus Tereza Kamenicka Elijah John Harrigan Ellie Laura Gallacher Lucinda C Lucy Harrigan Mary Josephine Arden MK12 Orderlies Michael Christofis, Eleanor Young & Alexa Mathews Nurse Always Xanadu Xero Nurse Cestoni Laura Wolfe Nurse Phillips Cathy Conneff Tessa Kirsty Hudson With special thanks to Secret Cinema, Fabien Riggall, Harry Ross, the London Film Museum and Space Engineering.

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FoolishPeople.com

A Red Threatening Sky

11 February - 20 February 2010 The Old Abattoir, 187-211 St. John St, Clerkenwell, London, EC1V 4LS An immersive sell-out Valentine's event which took place in a vast subterranean labyrinth of an old disused abattoir, combining performance, art installation and investigative interaction to create Club Aethereus; a strange and surreal underworld of Gnostic Noir. A place where crime, passion, the sacred and profane all cast one shadow.

The Valentinian. Harry wakes with no memory of how he arrived inside the club. He has been contracted to find a missing person. Pearl. The Hotel room. Her hands and feet are bound and a hood hides her face. Teddy boy philosopher Roy Boutling watches the prize for the club's owner. Sebastian Qyain. The Aviary. The birds song has become distressed. The ornithologist Miss Moreau waits for her lover, a man whose face she has never seen. The Dance Floor. The showgirls receive a letter from Sebastian Qyain. It contains the revised ending of the Valentine's show at Club Aetherus, directing them in a horrifying act. Opening hour approaches under a red threatening sky. You are invited to enter and investigate the mystery of love's final destination, in a unique experience honouring the earliest traditions and rituals of courtship, jealousy, union and lust. A Red Threatening Sky examined the nature of love, an unrelenting force which pervades all our lives from the moment we are born until the day we die.
Written and directed by John Harrigan Produced by Lucy Harrigan Choreography by Johan Stjernholm Poster Design & Music by P. Emerson Williams Costume design by Hannah Druckes Assistant Producer: James Bland Photography by Yiannis Katsaris Lighting design by Big Bean Productions: Lewis Willding & Charlie Strangeways Lighting Assistants: Rhys Thomas & Jennifer Watson Sponsored by: Dark Mills Festival, Big Bean Productions & Space Engineering Featuring art by: Emily Dezurick-Badran, Jules Newman, Tom G Adriani, Ioanna Pantazopoulou, Xanadu Xero, Maryam Hashemi, Takayuki Hara, Marie-Louise Jones, Samm Hain, Kara Rae Garland, Sinead Geary & Anna Cocciadiferro. Performers: Eleanor Appleton, Laura Gallacher, John Harrigan, Charlotte Gray, Brooke Dibble, Kim Burnett, Tereza Kamenicka, Lucy Harrigan, Jamie Richards, Ruth Middleton, Daisy Leverington, Maria McColgan, Tania Batzoglou, Johan Stjernholm, Reiko Mori & Fumi Sakamaki Production Team: Hannah Druckes, Emma Tompkins, Abbie Yaxley, Leslie Borg, Helen Stay, Petra Hjortsberg, Joyce Kidd, Anne Bengard, Sara Gianfrate, John Middleton, Ruth Middleton, Jamie Elkin, Caiti Grove, Anna Radeva, Finn & Gage Harrigan

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FoolishPeople.com

CIRXUS
25th May - 13th June 2009 STUDIO K, Arcola Theatre 1957- Seascale, the North of England. Cirxus is an old English circus lost in the shadows of the smoke stacks of Calder Hall, the world's first commercial nuclear power station. Athalia the ballerina waits in the ring for Loudon the Clown to return with directions to the Black Pool, the mythic site of the Home Sweet Home, the final show of the season. Join her as she begins a bizarre and wondrous search for Loudon through the irradiated secrets of Cirxus, where she must face the macabre atomic menagerie, haunted by circus animals and navigate her way through the maze of strange, hallucinogenic sideshows on the other side of time. Immerse yourself in the world of Cirxus, where theatric arcana and Atomic fallout irradiate the sawdust arenas of our inner worlds. FoolishPeople will use mythology, shamanism, music and dance to bring the darkness of an atomic circus to life. The performance will allow audience members to step into the world of an old English circus lost in the 1950s, explore its sideshows and meet extraordinary characters from the past and future. Presented by FoolishPeople Written and Directed by John Harrigan Cast Afanc - Tereza Kamenicka Athalia Faa - Lucy Allin Blue Lady - Victoria Karlsson Irina - Amy Ewbank Jaculina Tar - Daisy Leverington Koca - Peter McMillan Lacertillia - Hannah Purdy Mr. Slin - P. Emerson Williams OhMy - Stephen McLeod Nelly Messenger - Kylie McLean Seamstress - Louise Lee Venie Clancie - Claire Tregellas Violet - Carrie Whitton Tattipani - Tania Batzoglou Produced by Lucy Allin Assistant director: Victoria Karlsson Sound designers: Victoria Karlsson, Antoine Bertin & P. Emerson Williams Graphic Designer: P. Emerson Williams Set Designer: Paron Mead Set Design Assistants: Blondie Von Bengard, Charly Blackburn, Jessica Doyle, Fleur Huyghues Despointes & Juliette Jeanclaude Props Mistress: Kylie McLean Lighting Designer: Marec Joyce Costume Designers: Johanna Elf, Syban V, Katie & Caroline Collinge Project Manager: James Elphick Education and Development Officer: Claire Tregellas Make-up: Charlotte Tofield & Maria Kalou Marketing: Marie Kearney 'Atomic Tea Dance' choreographed by Stephen McLeod Production Staff: Gianluca Summa & Jan Kamenicka

Cirxus was sponsored by: The London Film Museum, Viven of Holloway, The Courtyard, Chisenhale Dance Space, People Show & C-12 Dance Theatre

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FoolishPeople.com

CONTACT
John Harrigan- Artistic Director e: asmadai@foolishpeople.org w: johnharrigan.com Lucy Harrigan- Producer e: lucena@foolishpeople.org P. Emerson Williams- Product Development Manager e: choronzon333@foolishpeople.org w: veilofthorns.com You can also contact us at art@foolishpeople.org For more information, news and photo galleries please visit: FoolishPeople.org or FoolishPeople.com

Photography Yiannis Katsaris Poster graphics P. Emerson Williams Desecration poster Christopher Eales Dark Nights of the Soul poster Sam Shearon FP Portfolio design by Lucy Harrigan

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FoolishPeople.com