Peepshow

By Isabel Wright

2002

Peepshow

Overview

Frantic Assembly in association with The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Lyric Hammersmith. Supported by Barclays Stage Partners with The Arts Council of England

First performed on 20th September 2002

Cross-section of upstairs and downstairs rooms. A woman in the upstairs room is passing through the floor, head first. A man in the downstairs room reaches, holding her outstretched arm
This post is written by: Scott Graham Artistic Director

After a Hymns show an audience member said she thought there was a moment when we were going to sing. I asked why and she responded, ‘because you could have.'

She was talking about taking a moment on stage to the place where only something heightened becomes the right thing to do. We were very dismissive about the idea of musicals thinking they were all brash jazz hands but then I realised that we were trying to find that same moment in a show with movement.

A woman and man are on a bed. The man is curled up beneath the woman; cowering. She looks dominant.

We wanted to find out if we could make a musical that was low key and the antithesis of the showy hell that we imagined (wrongly) all musicals to be.

We based it on the song of Lamb and were inspired by the aesthetic of the Massive Attack video for the song Protection.

The set was a cross section of a block of flats and we looked at how those lives intersected. The focus was on proximity and loneliness.

Credits

Written by:
Isabel Wright

Gallery

  • Cross section of five rooms in a house. We can see people in each room – upstairs a man sits at at a computer, another is looking out of a window, and a woman is propped-up on a bed. Downstairs are four people; two in each further bedroom. Their forms are blurred so it's unclear what they're doing but they may be dancing
  • A naked woman sits with her back to the camera, on a high stool. Her legs are crossed and her hands are hugged around her shoulders. She's facing towards a large, ornate picture frame – it's not celar what this frame holds.
  • A woman and man are on a bed. The man is curled up beneath the woman; cowering. She looks dominant.

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