Masque of the Red Death, video documentation
David Asmodeus, Steven Graham, Ron Huebner, Stan Lake, Danielle Peacock, Bill Rennie, Liz Scully, Marina Szijarto, Hillary Wood
October 30 – November 30, 1991
Creative Access Description
Colour analogue video showing an edited compilation of a theatrical performance art production, wherein performers and audience members alike are in costume and often freely intermingling in the various rooms, each one of which is a unique art installation, of the performance space. The video opens with a group of dancers moving daintily on their tiptoes to an upbeat, medieval sounding instrumental with tapping drums and swirling melodies of flute, fiddle, and cello. The camera pans around a dimly liet blue painted room room decorated with skulls, skeletons and grave markers, before cutting to a narrator wearing a gold theatrical masque and dressed as a medieval courtier, who delivers the opening lines of Poe's story Masque of the Red Death. She describes the situation of an incurable plague ravaging the land, from which the nobility has sought refuge from in Prince Prospero's castle for the last six months, as well as the masquerade ball currently being held and the various rooms it takes place in.The camera pans through the the seven rooms: blue, purple, green, orange, white, violet, and black, showing elements of each set's art installation. A horn sounds for the arrival of Prince Prospero who enters the stage thanking the court to much applause. He has long curly blonde hair and wears a blue cape and tunic with ruffles at the sleeves and collar, a golden crown, a prominent codpiece, and holds a columbina, a small eye mask on a stick. He speaks in an absurd pompous tone with an exaggerated air of self importance, thanking the audience and complimenting their costumes (and his own), before being handed a skeleton prop and dancing with it to a festive, pulsing song while laughing maniacally. Audience members and performers follow suit and clap along to the spectacle, until an audience member standing on a ladder and looking over one of the set walls yells to stop the music as there is a dead body in the next room. The music changes to a grim tolling bell accompanied by a thumping heartbeat. Prospero reassures the crowd that the death was of natural causes, and definitely not the plague.
The party resumes with a conga line, followed by two short vignettes: a performer in a ball gown gives sorrowful monologue about stones and memories set to a tranquil flute and Prospero is admonished by his lady while being spoon fed by a child servant as a bell slowly tolls. In the next scene a courtier with a pink costume and shoulder length curly dark hair pleads with Prospero before being mocked while trying to answer an inane riddle posed by the Prince. Prospero, appearing to be overcome by emotion embraces the courtier, before stabbing him and flinging him to the ground in disgust. The stage darkens as a loud buzzing and thumping heartbeat sound begin, punctuated by a tolling bell. Prospero cries out in fear lamenting the passing of time with having had any fun, and demanding further performance.
The camera cuts to a woman dressed in all white with white face paint and long dark hair, hanging in mid air, suspended by a cable from her waist to the ceiling of the white room. She sings in a high, at times pained voice and moves rhythmically to a dramatic swelling cello and violin. Her arial dance continues with shots of the white room installation and the audience milling about before the music builds, she curls into a ball, and an assistant spins her around. She hangs bat-like upside down, spinning slowly, as the lights fade.
The camera cuts to the purple room where a courtier searches for a dance partner to a jazzy saxophone and baroque harp. Finding a partner, she encourages everyone to dance, the music then picks up into a festive but melancholy waltz punctuated by a shaking tambourine and wheezing accordion. The tempo steadily increases, accompanied by audience clapping, laughter, and revelry, as well as detail shots of the installations. One audience member begins a frantic circular running dance, removing articles of his clothing as the dancers form a circle around him, clapping and cheering to the rhythm. He seems to enter a state of madness, clutching at his head and falling to the floor as a tolling bell overtakes the music and the lights again dim.
The camera pans to a death-like figure in a black robe, while a recording plays a sinister monologue about life and death over the receding gasps and grunts of the dancer. The voice narrates the action, a strange intruder has arrived at the castle and Prospero angrily demands to know who it is, yelling out 'Who dares?' over the sound of a barking dog. The intruder is described making their way through each room, and finally in the violet room, Prospero approaches the death-like figure, rapier in hand, and removes its mask. The audience gasps as the robe falls to the floor and the Prince stammers and chokes, writhing around as his eyes bulge and his tongue wags before dropping dead to the floor in a ghastly and hilarious spectacle. The audience applauds and the narrator concludes Poe's story: the Red Death has entered the palace, sparing none in spite of their privilege. The lights on Prospero's body dim and the audience applauds again. The credits roll set to the ominous sound of a beating heart.
Description
Video documentation of Masque of the Red Death.Identifier
1991.1030 MAS V001Extent
1 VHS tape, 00:28:48Tape Number
91-007Language
Artist
David Asmodeus, Steven Graham, Ron Huebner, Stan Lake, Danielle Peacock, Bill Rennie, Liz Scully, Marina Szijarto, Hillary WoodRelated program
Masque of the Red Death (Related)In copyright. For uses outside of Fair Dealing please contact grunt gallery.