te POOKa at the Festival, August 2008
Behind the Big Red Door last year
Between August 6th and 31st 2008 the Big Red Door was open to the public for the first time for a whirlwind of parties hosted by Lady Lawson*, a true Grande Dame with a Victorian sense of lavish style.
To see some photos of the proceedings, visit the Big Red Door gallery.
Events proceeded thusly:
Lady Lawson* was down on her luck...
What prompted Lady Lawson* to throw open her doors to the rough and tumble of Edinburgh in August? To speak plainly m'lady was actually a bit down on her luck. Lord Lawson, a merchant adventurer, had been away for sometime in India. Most of the family fortune was put into the venture and there had been no word, and more importantly no financial return, from the East.
To drown her cares, LL* decided to throw a few soirées with her nearest and dearest. However being a lady with elaborate tastes and a tendency to let her imagination run wild, she found herself the hostess of 19 parties with different themes - The Quiet Night Inn, presented by Lady Lawson's* League for the Promotion of Literacy, A Gypsy Carnival, and The Peculiar Portal (rumoured to open between this and other worlds).
With her vast social connections, Lady Lawson* invited an array of the most eccentric, flamboyant and just plain weird personalities including Professor Garibaldi and his Mesmerising Performing Menagerie, Mazzula Hula - Mistress of the Hoop, carnival freaks, The Admiral Andrew Thorburn and his piano, countless bizarre Fringe acts and musical guests- even the great Lady herself had a few tricks up her petticoat. Every night was different and anything could happen.
No Flyers, No Posters - NO WASTE!
Edinburgh is swamped with posters and flyers most of which end up in bins, or littering the streets.
Therefore, you will not have found te POOKa posters cluttering up the toilets of your local or becoming brightly coloured pulp in the gutters. Instead, you will have found Lady Lawson* and her entourage parading the streets of Edinburgh, spreading the word. Or perhaps you will have met some mischief maker in a shady corner who pressed into your sweaty palm a wee wee red door containing details of the Big Red Door. Word of mouth is the best and most eco-friendly advertising, and Lady Lawson has a very loud mouth.
The Shows
Gypsy Carnival
Complete with sideshows, freaks, fortune tellers, music. Circus turned on it's head - the Clowns are in charge...
The Peculiar Portal
In the travelling days of her youth Lady Lawson* was given a rather strange, ancient gift in the dark forests of Eastern Europe. It is rumoured to open the veil between the worlds, an entrance to the Other Worlds... What manner of strangeness lies beyond the threshhold?
The Quiet Night Inn
A Victorian-style chillout lounge - storytelling, parlour games, all kinds of posh goings-on. The perfect place to rest and recuperate after the busy social whirl.
Be prepared...
When we say 'show', what we actually mean is not the usual kind of passive audience experience - take a seat, watch performers on a stage etc. This was an 'immersive' experience - action taking place all around, the focus shifting continuously. Indeed, the audience was often requested to volunteer themselves, however briefly...
* No resemblance or reference to any actual real persons, living or dead, is implied or intended.
