It’s all about the D-word for two artists Antonia Beck and Lucy Nicholls, who are on a mission to get people talking about death with their production, The Death Show.
Created in response to a provocative and unashamedly honest dialogue about death, Beck and Nicholls have worked with White Rabbit’s founder Bernadette Russell to create The Death Show. The show looks to peek behind the velvet curtain and lift the veil on the subject of death and in doing so help us to better understand society’s relationship with dying.
The Death Show is presented as a live, contemporary performance that is funny, surreal, reflective, honest (and references a good dose of pop culture). Despite their mutual ‘thanataphobia’ (a fear of death), Beck and Nicholls don’t believe that death should be seen as morbid, macabre, weird, disturbing, melancholic or most importantly unmentionable.
The pair invite audiences to climb aboard the coffin and embark on a journey into the unknown, on a quest to understand society’s fear of dying and why we struggle to accept our own mortality. This playful and poignant show is as much about contemplating death as it is about reflecting on the importance of living life to the full.
As part of the research and development for the show, the artists embarked on an in-depth research journey which included taking part in a celebrant training course; being artists in residence at an independent funeral directors; spending time with patients at a hospice; and having numerous conversations with death and end of life care professionals, as well as the general public about death and dying.
The Death Show Podcast also launches this month, and will see Beck and Nicholls release five weekly episodes.
When: 30th January – 1st February 2020
Where: Camden People’s Theatre, 58-60 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY
£: Tickets cost £12 or £10 for concessions
More info: www.cptheatre.co.uk and www.thedeathshow.co.uk/podcast
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