The Unseen Woods
Photo by Trever Long
The Unseen Woods is a ritual within a play, designed for a mobile audience who can interact and view as much or little as they want. Three magical practitioners summon an old God into the body of a dead woman, seeking to mend their broken society- the first hour of the piece is the ritual itself. One hour in the God awakens in the body, non-consensually summoned for the salvation of mankind. The ritual succeeds but the purpose for it does not - the God is resentful, being awakened for such petty means. It tortures the three magicians, turning their ritual elements back on them, and destroying them with a threefold death. Finally, the God is able to extricate themselves from this world, back to their infinite safety.
The piece features an original soundtrack (listen to the climactic scene here), with space sounds woven from the projected planetary movements on the dates of the performances. Because of this, each night’s soundtrack is unique.
Performed in October 2019 at Theatre Bizarre. The piece runs 2.5hrs.
Live photos: Trever Long // Studio (B&W) photos: Legerdemain/Brian Sheehan