Lecture Notes on a Death Scene / 2010-'11

Lecture Notes on a Death Scene is a new micro-project in development. The work is a tangential half-hour performance event for one person to experience at a time, taking inspiration from Jorge Luis Borges' short story El Jardín de Senderos que se Bifurcan (The Garden of Forking Paths, 1941).

A white line on the floor leads you to a leather chair sitting in the centre of a darkened room. A mirror slides towards you from the pitch black. In an intimate encounter between yourself and your reflection, the mirror becomes a window to multiple internal worlds taking you out of your own body and placing you behind the steering wheel of someone else's life. You are a lecturer driving a passenger home on a rainy night. You are the passenger in the back seat. You are both simultaneously; the performer and the audience. As the distance between the lecturer and the lecture closes, you find yourself in the headlights of a past that is catching up with you...  

Artistically led by Liam Jarvis in collaboration with Hannah Barker, the show will be 30-minute immersive experience and an investigation of scientific concept through artistic form.  We are intrigued by the writings of Borges, and the theatrical richness of ‘many worlds' interpretation - of the infinite possibilities of what could have been, of the choices left un-chosen.

Press (Pulse '10 Festival, Ipswich):

'A pulse-racing show', 'Fascinating... I certainly felt somewhat freaked out at the end of the performance'  BBC Suffolk

Production Credits:

Written & Directed by Liam Jarvis, in collaboration with Hannah Barker

Performed by Philip Desmeules

Sound Design by Alex Garfath

Set Design by Liam Jarvis with James Lewis

Set construction by James Lewis

Produced by Ric Watts

Lecture Notes on a Death Scene was initially workshopped in its early stages with MA Advanced Theatre Practice students at Central School of Speech and Drama in Autumn 2009. It was developed at Farnham Maltings during May and June 2010, and had its first public work-in-progress performances at New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich in June 2010 as part of Pulse Festival '10, with further developmental performances at The Lowry, Manchester in September 2010.