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New date for show deemed ‘too dangerous to perform’

By Julie McNicholls Vale in Entertainment from CAMBRIAN NEWS

A NEW date has been set for a show that was initially deemed too dangerous to perform.

UK/Australian company Doppelgangster announces a one off showing of the controversial site-specific performance, Doppelgangster’s TITANIC. The company performed the piece on Monday at Aberystwyth Arts Centre as part of SITE 2 / SAFLE 2 Festival. It was due to be performed again on Tuesday evening, but was cancelled because of serious concerns about performer safety.

“It’s a show about a terrible tragedy, and we hope that a fraction of the terror comes across in the work,” said TITANIC performer, Tom Payne.

“On this occasion, some of the physical action and the sequences involving lots of water looked more believable than we had anticipated. We’ve worked the concerns through with the Arts Centre, who have been really brilliant, and are delighted to announce that Doppelgangster’s TITANIC will be returning next Wednesday, 16 March, at 6.30pm, looking as dangerous as ever.”

Doppelgangster’s TITANIC is described as an hilarious outdoor show that takes a satirical and troubling look at migration through the frame of Cameron’s 1997 Hollywood tearjerker.

Aberystwyth based academic and performance maker Tom Payne and Australian actor/writer Tobias Manderson-Galvin lead the production in the absurdly comic roles of ‘an aging but handsome Leonardo Dicaprio’, and ‘James/David Cameron’.

“We’ve ripped up the screenplay from Cameron’s film and a maelstrom of other sources including the Titanic DVD Special Features Disk and eyewitness, survivor accounts of people who actually saw the film at the movies. Doppelgangster’s TITANIC is about ‘educated guesses’, ‘operational matters’ and the impossible pursuit of ‘truth,” said Tobias.

The production features an original prog-rock/jazz metal soundtrack from Melbourne based composer Mr Jules Pascoe (The Conglomerate, Husky), and will be performed from a shipping container located outside the Arts Centre, kindly provided by mid-Wales based Dylan Thomas Cranes.

Doppelgangster’s TITANIC was developed with support from National Theatre Wales, and has been presented at Chapter Arts Centre (Cardiff), and in Paris as a part of ArtCOP21, a global festival of cultural activity that ran parallel to the UN Climate Talks in December, 2015. Doppelgangster’s TITANIC is the first piece to be performed by Doppelgangster in Aberystwyth since its official appointment as an Associate Company at the Arts Centre.