The world premiere of Marcus Ian McKenzie’s The Crying Room: Exhumed lands at The Substation this February. This critically acclaimed artist brings you a contemporary performance about the immanent relationship between ecstasy and grief.
A crying room is a small, soundproof chamber at the back of a theatre auditorium where you can experience an event via one-way glass and live audio feed. As the name suggests, it’s a place you can go if you are crying so as not to disturb the audience. But what if a crying room was actually a site dedicated to emotional extraction? A place not to conceal tears, but to invoke them?
The Crying Room: Exhumed conjures a world of hyperspiritualists, clairvoyeurs, psychobabble and cybergrief. Prophecies will be scried and spectres will be divined – all for a nominal fee. But some fortunes ought to remain untold, and even the dead are buried with their mobile phones.
In this deeply personal and form-bending adaptation of his award-winning online work The Crying Room, Marcus Ian McKenzie scours infinite planes in search of his lost brother.
ARTIST TALK/
Join us for a special Artist Talk after the performance on Friday 23 February. Hear how this show transformed from a Zoom-presented lockdown experience to a physicalised contemporary performance.
WARNINGS/
This is an 18+ event.
This performance contains haze, strobe and flashing lights, sustained bright lights and both sudden and sustained loud noises.
This performance contains nudity, mild coarse language, and references to self harm and suicide, mental health, COVID-19 and death.
Latecomers will not be admitted.
ACCESS/
This event is wheelchair accessible and gender neutral accessible toilets are available. Registered assistance animals are welcome. Audience members will be able to access a dedicated Quiet Space throughout the performance. Seating will be provided for all audience members.
The duration of the performance is 80 minutes.
The Substation galleries, bar and bookshop are open from 6.30pm (one hour prior to the performance).
