Something Wicked This Way Comes
Following a brilliantly successful run at the 2016 Brighton Fringe Festival, the Curious Clouds will be coming home to London to present their new production for the 2017 Season​​
A court room in hell. Shakespeare's Prospera (The Tempest) presides as Macbeth (Macbeth) and Goneril (King Lear) battle each other for a chance at redemption. An allegory on modern times, this new play shines a light on the obsessive pursuit of power and the destruction of the old world order.
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Something Wicked This Way Comes
White Bear Theatre, London (June 2017)
Something wicked this way comes: shining a light on a post Brexit world.
As General Election campaigning goes into full swing, Curious Cloud premiers a new play: Something wicked this way comes. The play shines a light on modern political times: the unravelling of old world politics, and the impotence of the political elite in the face of the rise of populism, nativism and a post fact world.
Something wicked this way comes by Srabani Sen is an allegory, set in a court room in hell. Shakespeare's Prospera (The Tempest) presides, as Macbeth (Macbeth) and Goneril (King Lear) battle each other to prove that their way of leadership is the best. At stake is their very survival and the prize, redemption.
Srabani Sen said: “I wrote this play just after the election of Donald Trump as US President and a few months after the Brexit vote. Like many others, I was struck by the momentous political changes taking place in the Western world. Everything we took for granted about what political leadership means is being dismantled and reshaped. What also struck me was that each side, whether politicians or members of the public, are convinced they are right. No-one is actually listening to each other. This is even more evident in the General Election campaign that we are living through now. I wanted to explore both sides of the argument.”
Curious Cloud’s Artistic Director Catriona Clancy said: "Drawing on Shakespeare’s characters, this play demonstrates their resonance with the current political climate and interrogates the urgent issues that we are all grappling with. We hope it will get people talking, long after they have left the theatre.”
2016/17
Mocketh The Weak
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The Shakespearean Game-Show Event
Inspired by the Fools contained in the works of Shakespeare
“Mocketh The Weak” - The gameshow that pits wicked wits against hapless saps.
Who wins? You choose.
Taking inspiration and fascination from Shakespeare's fools, clowns and pranksters to come up with their latest show, the Curious Clouds created the unique 'game-show event' that is Mocketh The Weak..
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It is easy to focus on the heroes and villians in Shakespeare's works, but sometimes it's just as to easy to forget the motley crew of fools and tricksters contained in these plays - Curious Cloud felt determined to correct this imbalance and to celebrate these confrontational and cheeky little blighters, giving them a stage all of their own.
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Delving into numerous Shakespeare texts and drumming up a veritable rogue's gallery of motley fools, buffoons and jesters, the Clouds asked themselves the question "Just who or what would be a modern-day equivalent for these bawdy, irreverent, often offensive, characters in today's world?"
And the answer, would you believe, turned out to be - Game-Show Hosts and Stand-Up Comedians
This show ran for 4 performances at The Warren, Brighton, as part of the 2016 Brighton Fringe Festival (May 2016), followed by a London Run consisting of 2 performances at the Canal Cafe Theatre, Little Venice (Nov 2016) and 2 performances at the Hen & Chickens Theatre, Highbury & Islington (Feb 2017)
2015
Phantoms of the Oracle
A World Premiere of new material
inspired by Greek mythology and with abridged adaptations by
renowned Classicist and Dramatist David Stuttard
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Brand new adaptation of Euripides "Iphigenia at Aulis"
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Included Stuttards reconstruction of "Alexandros", from the lost cycle of plays by Euripides
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"Greek tragedy deals brilliantly with universal subjects and is especially insightful when it comes to human relationships. I've long been interested in bringing Greek drama alive for modern audiences, so I found Curious cloud's invitation to collaborate on this new project, both intriguing and really exciting." (David Stuttard)
Curious Cloud's imaginative production saw ancient Greek tragedy erupt into modern-day parenthood. While performing at a Baby-naming ceremony, the lead singer of The Oracles suffers a disturbing hallucination, which transforms the celebrating parents into the agonised characters of Greek mythology.
Curious Cloud playfully took the name of the band (The Oracles) from the actual oracles of Greek drama, agents who were thought to speak the word of God. However, scientific investigation now conjectures that these individuals may, in fact, have been high on ethylene gases emitting from the rocks where they lived! Phantoms of the Oracle used this idea as a prism through which to explore the complexities of parent-child relationships and nowhere are these more movingly portrayed than in the stories of Greek mythology. Curious Cloud´s dynamic production brought together legendary Greek characters in a vision of the familial hell that ripples underneath contemporary life, bringing a modern-day relevance to the timeless tales contained within classical Greek mythology.
2014
Do Not Disturb
Do Not Disturb is a hilarious collection of zany, fast-paced comedies, all set in a hotel suite, which was a smash-hit in the US in 1991.
Curious Cloud Theatre Company transformed Theatro Technis into the Paradiso Hotel and invited "guests" to follow the scent of scandal to the 23rd floor. There they meet a single man faced with a most unusual menage a trois; a chambermaid and a waitress whose encounters with their film star hero don't go quite to plan; a bell-boy who gets blackmailed into starring in a Viking porn film, and a cheating husband whose wife turns the tables on him with her unusual use for an electric drill. Written by accomplished actors Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore, this delightful screwball comedy builds to an explosive finale.
Curious Cloud's production drew the audience into the Paradiso Hotel, giving "guests" chance to interact with the characters from the plays and immerse themselves in the farcical atmosphere.
This show ran for 6 performances at the Omnibus Theatre, Clapham Common, London SW4 0QW
This show ran for 6 performances at Theatro Technis Omnibus Theatre, Mornington Crescent, London NW1 1TT, as part of the 2014 Camden Fringe Festival
2013
Gizmo
Gizmo is a rarely performed comedy about Ben, paralysed by post-traumatic stress.
Doctors develop a device called Gizmo to help him walk again but, when his nurse takes Ben for a walk in the park, they are set upon by a gang of muggers and Gizmo falls in to the wrong hands.
Packed with larger-than-life characters, this fast-paced comedy keeps audiences on the edge of their seats and was well-received by the audiences that came along to the Camden People's Theatre to experience Curious Cloud's debut production.
This show ran for 3 performances at Camden People's Theatre, Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY