Description

In 1881, the famed and enigmatic impresario Mr Edward Gant presented his renowned travelling show for the final time. The opiate-addicted actor manager showcased his troupe, creating a spectacle of grotesquery, black comedy, mystery and magic realism. Over a century later, playwright Anthony Neilson has reconstructed this historical event in a theatrical piece that reveals the melodrama, extravagance and painful loneliness of a Victorian freak show. Neilson’s play offers a strange and beautiful exploration of sadness and mortality, probing even the nature of theatre itself.