Dead Royal
by Chris Ioan Roberts
INTERNATIONAL TOURING + FESTIVAL SHOW
Originally produced by Ovalhouse, London (2015)
Supported by a grant from Arts Council England
Recent season at Brisbane International Festival, Theatre Republic 2015
http://www.brisbanefestival.com.au/whats-on/dead-royal
Melbourne 2016
http://www.fortyfivedownstairs.com/wp2016/event/dead-royal/2016-08-23/
“Unique and enthralling, this is a bravura turn from Chris Ioan Roberts that is savagely funny and remarkably thoughtful and penetrating.”
- British Theatre
Synopsis
Length / style
Creative Team
Villa Windsor, Paris, 1981.
Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, 82, invites Lady Diana Spencer, 19, to a doom-laden bachelorette party on the eve of her wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales.
The Duchess frantically warns Diana to flee her looming nuptials – before she marries the wrong man and becomes immortalised as a desperate woman eager to crawl over broken glass to snatch a royal title.
Dead Royal is a bitter, venal melodrama laying bare history's merciless judgement of civilians who get sucked into the thick swamp of royal mediocrity. Savagely riffing on early 1980s fashion crimes and Britain's corrosive Princess Diana obsession, this jagged shard of physical theatre pits the Sloane Ranger's clipped vowels against a plantation-era Deep South drawl.
Gird your loins for a lacerating,camp-drenched celebration of narcissistic megalomania.
55 minutes, no interval
Solo male performer playing 2 female characters
Rapid-delivery monologue in 2 accents (Southern / Sloane Ranger)
Black comedy / subversive shock humour
Some explicit language
Physical theatre / physical comedy
Onstage use of 1980s audiovisual equipment (cassette, VHS)
Actor | writer | director
Chris Ioan Roberts
Production Designer
Robin Soutar
Lighting Designer
Alex Hopkins
Assistant Director
Alex Rand
Original Costume Designer
Dinu Bodiciu
Wigs
Sally Tynan
Composer
Duncan Boyce
Publicity Photographer
Patricia Oliveira
Press Representative
Chloé Nelkin Consulting (London)
Production
Chris Ioan Roberts
Reviews
“This is subversive, imaginative and compelling theatre. It is unlike anything you have seen...Unique and enthralling...See it. Don’t hesitate.”
– Stephen Collins, British Theatre
“..scurrilous, lewd, camp and poetic.”
– The Lady
“Hilarious...a juicy little nugget of a show.”
– Roz Carter, West End Wilma
“Fiercely funny...relentlessly, scathingly funny, and yet unexpectedly moving...”
– thereoughttobeclowns
“This meaty little psychological tangle is never less than enjoyable to watch. Roberts' performances tiptoe between caricature, drag and sincerity.”
– London City Nights
“Dead Royal is an outrageous pink champagne apocalypse of lacerating wit...Chris Ioan Roberts is a fizzing and engrossing performer...Scintillatingly chic and dangerously sharp, Dead Royal is a twisted fable of Gothic proportions that will chill and chortle you to your very limits.”
– James Waygood, London
“A vivid, funny and often scathing view of royalty.”
– Ginger Hibiscus blog, London
http://britishtheatre.com/review-dead-royal-ovalhouse-4stars/
http://www.westendwilma.com/dead-royal-ovalhouse/
https://bluecurtainsbris.wordpress.com/tag/dead-royal/
http://oughttobeclowns.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/review-dead-royal-ovalhouse.html
http://www.londoncitynights.com/2015/04/dead-royal-at-ovalhouse-22nd-april-2015.html
http://lgbtqartsandculturereview.com/2015/04/23/review-dead-royal-ovalhouse/
http://grumpygaycritic.co.uk/2015/04/theatre-review-dead-royal/
http://gingerhibiscus.com/review-dead-royal-at-ovalhouse/
http://everything-theatre.co.uk/2015/04/dead-royal-ovalhouse-review.html
Show Specifications / Touring Information
Specifications
PERFORMANCE SPACE / VENUE
Dead Royal has been presented in both 3-sided thrust (80 seats) with onstage seating and proscenium format (200 seats)
Length of run negotiable
PLAYING SPACE MIN. DIMENSIONS
Minimum playing space is 6.5m W x 5m L
GET-IN / TURNAROUND TIMES
Get-in time: 2 hours approx.
PRE-ARRIVAL REQUIREMENTS
Producing venue must provide painted floor panels to the specification of the production designer.
Producing venue will store minor production elements and wardrobe sent ahead of artist arrival
TOURING PARTY
1 x artist only, venue to supply 1 x crew and show operator
STAGE MANAGEMENT
No stage manager required
Venue to supply show operator
FURTHER TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS, LX and CUE SHEETS
Please contact chrisioanroberts@gmail.com
Contact
Email Address | chrisioanroberts@gmail.com
