Thurs 30 & Fri 31 July 2009
Genesis – For some time, actor Tom Frankland and pianist Jakob Fichert have been planning a collaboration. Having considered many possibilities, they decided to develop a piece based on Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Schnitzler’s Flight into Darkness. Shortly after the production was taken on board by Sounds Underground in 2008, they were joined by composer Robert Fokkens. The piece was scripted and devised collaboratively by the team through late 2008 and 2009, with the first performances taking place in March 2009 in London and Oxford.
Synopsis
“What would you say if I told you I had murdered?”
“Flights into darkness” explores the descent into madness of a character derived from a combination of the central figures of Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Arthur Schnitzler’s Flight into Darkness. As a man very publicly questions his involvement in the possible murder of a number of his closest companions, questions of guilt, judgement, insanity, and the nature of memory arise insistently.
In this compellingly disturbing theatrical encounter, the character repeatedly finds himself exploring the terrifyingly uncertain boundaries of reality and self as he searches for the truth about his guilt.
www.soundsunderground.org
Music: Robert Fokkens
Words: Oscar Wilde & Arthur Schnitzler
Featuring:
Actor: Tom Frankland
Pianist: Jakob Fichert
Tom Frankland studied at the University of Hull, the Central School of Speech & Drama and with Phillipe Gaulier. He has worked with the Cornish Theatre Collective, Strangeface, Nikki McCretton and with the Read Not Dead company for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. His company, Top of the World recently toured the UK with their devised play, “Paperweight”. Premièred at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2008, it won a Fringe First Award and a Total Theatre Award nomination. www.tomfrankland.co.uk
Jakob Fichert is a sought after pianist. He studied at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe and the Royal College of Music, winning numerous prizes at international competitions. Since then he has performed in venues such as the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Wigmore Hall and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and recorded for various radio stations.www.jakobfichert.com
Robert Fokkens. With regular performances by top performers at venues in the UK, South Africa and around the world, Robert Fokkens is one of the most successful South African composers of his generation.www.robertfokkens.co.uk