Created by Nathalie Ellis-Einhorn
Presented at CPT by Gash Theatre
Supported by Battersea Arts Centre, New Diorama Theatre, and Theatre Deli
GORE. GIRLS. GLITTER.
A multimedia burlesque fantasia about Shelley Duvall.
Horny for horror? Freaky for feminism?
Fancy a lap dance from Jack Nicholson?
When directing The Shining, Stanley Kubrick reportedly made Shelley Duvall film one scene 127 times. It took 3 weeks. By the end of it, her hands were scraped raw & her voice was hoarse. In the scene as captured on film, she’s a puddle of snot, a total wreck – as Stephen King said at the time, a “screaming dishrag."
Should we be watching her? Is this acting or just a woman being genuinely tortured?
SHELLEY is reframing the horror movie genre to uncover whether it is truly as misogynistic as we fear or instead a celebration of the craft of female hysteria.
Come join our ooey gooey fleshy blobby spectacular of bodily fluids!
“This balletic bloodbath of a play is, at times, bizarre, and always brilliant. Using a series of burlesque and drag numbers connected by an overarching narrative, Shelley is whip smart, visceral, pointed, and absolutely mad.”
— Adventures in Theatreland ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐