_outsideinside-out
_unscene199
The show, The Candidate, examined and subverted the concept of ‘the family’. This concept was derived from the Langham Club, which for many years has functioned as a communal, intergenerational living room, with all the love and fall-outs, gossip and giggles, fond memories and baggage you’d find in any tight-knit community with a lot of history. The show involved about 25 performers, aged 21–84, five live musicians and several designers. A couple of the club’s long-standing members performed in the show too, including the bingo lady, who starred as herself. The club was open to members during show nights, so the audience were never quite sure who was a performer and who was a punter, or what was spontaneous and what was rehearsed.
The Candidate was a site-specific, immersive theatre piece that was devised and staged by Persona Collective in 2019 at The Langham Club; a traditional working mens club on Green Lanes, near where we all live in Haringey, north London. The club has existed for over 100 years but its numbers are really declining. We became members and spent several months hanging out there, getting to know the regulars and attending bingo nights before developing the show.
The Candidate is the first and last piece of a perpetual cycle. It is a surreal exploration of the family concept, where characters act as family members to fabricate a false reality.
The story is a metaphor for a failed socio-political and financial system in which the role of the family is to prepare themselves to form part of an absurd and competitive system, with no way out. Here, the strange pathologies of human behaviour are dissected and the characters find themselves falling down a symbolic rabbit hole, slowly losing control of events and culminating in an intoxicated awakening that is a celebration of human affairs and rituals.
The Candidate was a site-specific, immersive theatre piece that was devised and staged by Persona Collective in 2019 at The Langham Club; a traditional working mens club on Green Lanes, near where we all live in Haringey, north London. The club has existed for over 100 years but its numbers are really declining. We became members and spent several months hanging out there, getting to know the regulars and attending bingo nights before developing the show.
The Candidate is the first and last piece of a perpetual cycle. It is a surreal exploration of the family concept, where characters act as family members to fabricate a false reality.
The story is a metaphor for a failed socio-political and financial system in which the role of the family is to prepare themselves to form part of an absurd and competitive system, with no way out. Here, the strange pathologies of human behaviour are dissected and the characters find themselves falling down a symbolic rabbit hole, slowly losing control of events and culminating in an intoxicated awakening that is a celebration of human affairs and rituals.
The Candidate was a site-specific, immersive theatre piece that was devised and staged by Persona Collective in 2019 at The Langham Club; a traditional working mens club on Green Lanes, near where we all live in Haringey, north London. The club has existed for over 100 years but its numbers are really declining. We became members and spent several months hanging out there, getting to know the regulars and attending bingo nights before developing the show.
The Candidate is the first and last piece of a perpetual cycle. It is a surreal exploration of the family concept, where characters act as family members to fabricate a false reality.
The story is a metaphor for a failed socio-political and financial system in which the role of the family is to prepare themselves to form part of an absurd and competitive system, with no way out. Here, the strange pathologies of human behaviour are dissected and the characters find themselves falling down a symbolic rabbit hole, slowly losing control of events and culminating in an intoxicated awakening that is a celebration of human affairs and rituals.
The Candidate was a site-specific, immersive theatre piece that was devised and staged by Persona Collective in 2019 at The Langham Club; a traditional working mens club on Green Lanes, near where we all live in Haringey, north London. The club has existed for over 100 years but its numbers are really declining. We became members and spent several months hanging out there, getting to know the regulars and attending bingo nights before developing the show.
The Candidate is the first and last piece of a perpetual cycle. It is a surreal exploration of the family concept, where characters act as family members to fabricate a false reality.
The story is a metaphor for a failed socio-political and financial system in which the role of the family is to prepare themselves to form part of an absurd and competitive system, with no way out. Here, the strange pathologies of human behaviour are dissected and the characters find themselves falling down a symbolic rabbit hole, slowly losing control of events and culminating in an intoxicated awakening that is a celebration of human affairs and rituals.
> the halfway house / behind the scenes
> the halfway house / behind the scenes
I’m from Seville (Spain) - London-based director, producer and educator in theatre & film, with a background in acting, contemporary dance, creative writing & music. I’m the founder of Persona Collective with over ten years of experience making immersive, site-specific work with communities.
My recent work includes immersive theatre productions in multiple locations around London: 'The Village' (2022/23) multi-locations piece in Soho & Chinatown; ‘The Halfway House’ (2020) at the old Central St. Martins in Holborn; ‘The Candidate’(2019) at The Langham Working Men's Club, Harringay; Outside Inside-Out (2027) at Harringay Warehouse District, London.
My past collaborations include: Briseida (2017) - a short fiction film based in the boat canal community; Unscene-199 (2016), a site-specific month-long theatre and arts festival with New River Studios, London; Falling House (2016), film installation Exhibited in Cities Methodologies, Slade Research Centre, London; Lighthouse (2014) Canning Town, commissioned by Speirs & Majors, working with the residents of Caritas Anchor House, a residential and life skills centre supporting homeless people - the project was about using the building’s windows to reveal the personality of its residents.
I work primarily with devised theatre techniques. I enjoy experimenting with new and playful methods of theatre creation that blur spatial, temporal and conceptual boundaries, weaving complex webs of fiction and reality, public and private, and past, present and future. In the past, I have collaborated with designers and architects, photographers and choreographers, and writers and technologists, always seeking to develop and broaden my understanding of theatre and film through interdisciplinary work.
My narratives are usually steeped in psychological realism. I am interested in the complexity of human nature, culture and experience. In my work I explore memories, dreams, rituals and magic, alongside existential fears and anxieties. I am interested in how experiences reverberate through time and space, and how buildings and objects embody collective and personal memories. People describe my storytelling as multi-sensory and dreamlike, often absurd and grotesque.
My work can take many forms, manifesting through film, theatre and immersive installations, or combinations of all three. I have experience performing a variety of roles, from teaching, writing and directing to acting, producing and curating. I have worked with sound, light and video projection, musicians, dancers and actors of all ages and backgrounds.
Along this road, I had the opportunity to collaborate with very inspiring artists, with whom I have had the chance to grow and learn from their experience and art making process - without them, many of these projects would never have seen the light.
Satu Streatfield - www.satustreatfield.com
Jack Wates - www.jackwates.com
Karolina Burlicowska - www.karolinaburlicowska.com
Emily George - www.emilygeorge.me
Ting-Ning Wen - tingningwen.com
More info:
Persona Collective - www.personacollective.co.uk
Persona Collective instagram - @persona_collective
My instagram - @rocio__ayllon
contact: rocio@personacollective.co.uk