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_the candidate

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.

Photography - Karolina Burlicowska 

Poster Design - Emma LD, Jack Wates

Cast & Creators

Justine Berthault
Charly Blackburn
Finn Boxer
Francesca Costa
Lorna Crouch
Jo Danzig
James Fowler
Melanie Gautier
Emanuela Giacole
Michael Hall
Megan Hatto
Patrick Heffernan
Xi-Mali Kadeena-Guscoth
Valia Katsis
Sarah Kent
Tom Kim
Emma LD
Amy Mauvan
Lucrezia Pazi
Juan Sanchez Plaza
Irene Sinou
Pauline Superville
Jean-Charles Wadja

Team

Rocio Ayllon - Artistic Director

Elina Ahkmetova - Choreography
Karolina Burlikowska - Photography & Art Direction
Emma LD - Graphic Design & Production
Satu Streatfield - Lighting Design & Research
Jack Wates - Scenography & Production
Antonio Beatriz - Sound Design
James Fowler - Script Development
Kerem Asfuroglu - Lighting Design & Logistics
Maria Armanda Gonclaves - Production
Vaskar Kayastha - Production

Musicians

Antonio Beatriz - Guitar, Drums
Finn Boxer - Vocals, Guitar, Bass Guitar
Louise Greenfield - Vocals
Xi-Mali Kadeena-Guscoth - Percussion
Femi Oriogun-Williams - Bass, Vocals, Percussion, Clarinet

Collaborators

Dr. Ruth Cherrington - Historian & Researcher
Olga Lagun - Film & Video

Contributors

The Langham Club
The Bridge Renewal Trust
Harringay Council
New River Studios
Pallet Paradise
Enliten Architectural Lighting
Kallos Gallery

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