At the end of last year the Liars and Believers performance collective invited Raul Gonzalez, Walter Sickert, Tyler Brown and I to create a piece of art inspired by a new unpublished short story by Neil Gaiman that the collective was creating a performance around. As I have been indulging in Gaiman's comic works since the age of 16 (after discovering the beautifully illustrated novel Stardust at my local comics store), I was really excited to be apart of this project. I received a copy of the Lunar Labyrinth and read it through around ten times trying to unlock the mysteries Gaiman presents. As it's not published yet, I can't summarize the story too much, but I can say it's really gripping, tense and ambiguous. I liked it very much. :)
One line of the story really grabbed me every time I read through the text. One character is describing how couples walked through the Lunar Labyrinth by the light of the waxing moon and would engage in romantic activities. Elderly couples too, because you never really forget your courting days no matter how old you are: "You never forget. It must be somewhere inside you. Even if the brain has forgotten, perhaps the teeth remember or the fingers."
I thought this was very profound considering society's general attitude towards geriatric sex which is usually discomfort or mocking. So I illustrated this line specifically and included the other big themes of the story - the rosemary hedge labyrinth and the waxing moon.
Each piece made for the show was displayed in the lobby of Oberon. The show was an incredible experience and just as mysterious as the text. The performers used the entire house as a stage and created some histories for some of the people mentioned in the text. There was beautiful acrobatics on the silks to represent the moon. During the show, various actors would approach you in the audience, grip onto you and ask you a muddled question about the moon or the labyrinth. And, yeah, Neil was in attendance- that was super cool. :)
At one point in the show an actor threw out a handful of quotes written on paper and I picked on off the floor... this is the one I picked up...
WHOA!
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