The prelude is a multi-art form performance, created through a three-year international exchange between Phillip Adams and US choreographer, Walter Dundervill, in partnership with Chocolate Factory Theatre, New York.
In The Prelude, Walter and Phillip channel their shared enthusiasm for forgotten rituals, physical and visual decadence and cathartic actions, using 1973 film The Exorcist as source material. As they deconstruct the film, the artists (including dancers Caroline Meaden, Michelle Heaven, Rachael Wisby and William McBride) create physicalised improvisations in response to its characters, generating a choreography of embodied exorcisms and symbolism. Through these processes, the film and its characters will be subverted into highly stylised anachronistic landscapes that relocate it from its original source including a giant field of prototaxites and the film’s 70s garb and priests’ attire, all in cosmic green couture. The artists’ fetishizations of the film’s narratives combine in their directorial roles, which are live in the work – part film director, fashion designer and sound mixer.
This durational, experiential production culminates in a hijacking of the film’s experimentations with exorcism, climaxing with the levitation of constructed beds.
Created by: Phillip Adams and Walter Dundervill
With: Rachael Wisby, Michelle Heaven, Caroline Meaden, William Mcbride and Phillip Adams
Director of photography: James Wright
Steadicam operator: Hannah Palmer
Sound recordist: Hayden Guildford
Set design: Thomas Roach and Phillip Adams
Runner: Alexander Dobson
Editors: Phillip Adams, James Wright, Walter Dundervill
Composer: Walter Dundervill
Colourist: Peter Hatzipavlis (Final Grade)
Surround mix: J David Franzke
Sound editor: Hayden Guildford
Green dress fabrication: Amanda Loschiavo
Produced by: Phillip Adams Balletlab
Executive director: Veronica Bolzon
Format: 4K 2:1 DCP / RED Helium
ClientPhillip Adams and Walter DundervillServicesColour GradingYear2020
