Fort Hiraeth- five impossible moments with Richard Pedley
Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June, 7pm start each night
We are delighted to announce Fort Hiraeth - five impossible moments with local writer and performer Richard Pedley. Set within the Playtime exhibition by Will Lakeman, the shows are inspired by memories of Fort Regent in its heyday. Employing a variety of techniques culled from magicians, con men, card sharks and bar school, Richard Pedley will present a series of solutions to five impossible questions. Maybe six. Certainly no more than seven. Full disclosure: It’s a show with magic, rather than a magic show.
The term 'Fort Hiraeth' refers to a longing for a place that no longer exists or in this case, a place that may never have existed, due to the rose-tinted spectacle effect. For Richard Pedley this exactly sums up his feelings about Fort Regent in the eighties.
Richard Pedley has been writing and performing pieces of theatre for a long time, but has never tied together his decades-long addiction to trickery. He explains that magic is one of those art forms, like mime and clowning, which has a terrible reputation. This is because most people think of the showbiz end of the spectrum where there is no real conversation between the performers and the audience. This show is an attempt to use similar techniques to entertain and maybe even inform, without the standard 'pick a card' setup. Instead of a dynamic where there is almost a battle of wits between the performer and the audience, these shows will invite the audience behind the curtain.
Richard Pedley said, “We all know, to a degree, that memory can be a treacherous place. No-one has perfect recall, and that opens a question about who we are; memory and identity are very much handcuffed to each other. If there are people in the audience who hung out at the Fort in the eighties I'll be checking my recollections against theirs, and demonstrating how easily our memories can be influenced and altered. Was there a giant snake? Did the cable car doors ever swing open by accident? And if that sounds a bit conceptual, I will probably also be trying to escape from thumbcuffs just to hammer the point home.”
Fort Hiraeth - five impossible moments with Richard Pedley will take place on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June, 7pm start both nights at ArtHouse Jersey at Capital House. Tickets are available via ArtHouse Jersey’s Eventbrite page and cost £10 + booking fee.
A small allocation of tickets are available as a pay-what-you-can option for those who might struggle to meet the cost at this time.
