Press Release: Jakop Ahlbom's acclaimed Horror at the Peacock

[Jan McNulty]

Jakop Ahlbom Company

Horror
Tuesday 23 May - Saturday 10 June
Performances Tue – Sat at 7.30pm, Sat mat 2.30pm, Sunday 1pm & 6pm
Tickets: £15 - £32
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8222 or www.peacocktheatre.com

 

Jakop Ahlbom’s Horror, an imaginative, terrifying and playful homage to the horror movie genre, returns to The Peacock from 23 May - 10 June 2017.

 

Ingenuously gruesome, genuinely scary and very funny, Horror references famous spine-chillers including The Shining, The Ring, Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. A deserted mansion. A young woman returns to the place of her bleak childhood. No longer able to suppress memories of her cruel parents and strange sister, she is forced to confront the past and some terrible truths.

 

Swedish-born theatre maker Jakop Ahlbom’s shows garner rave reviews and play to sell-out houses all over the world. In Horror he uses special effects to surprise and terrify: blood spurts up to the ceiling, a dismembered hand crawls, wailing as it goes, across the floor. 

 

This immersive stage spectacular continues Ahlbom’s legacy of highly visual stage works. Over the last decade Ahlbom has developed a trademark theatrical form that unites theatre, mime, dance, music and the world of illusion.

 

Jakop Ahlbom says: “In my youth, I devoured every film in the genre I could find. I enjoyed the absurd fantasies and special effects, the extreme events, the sense of a dark unknown, and the rush of adrenaline they all triggered. I was also intrigued by the dark humour of the films; the combination of the slapstick and the surreal made them captivating and terrifying.”

 

Horror was previously at The Peacock in January 2016 when it received critical acclaim as part of the London International Mime Festival.

 

Horror was made with the financial support of Performance Infinity, Jingying Group, the Performing Arts Fund, City of Amsterdam, Embassy of the Netherlands, WK Producties

Age guidance: 14+

 

NOTES TO EDITORS

 

ABOUT SADLER’S WELLS
Sadler's Wells is a world-leading dance house, committed to producing, commissioning and presenting new works and to bringing the best international and UK dance to London and worldwide audiences. Under the Artistic Directorship of Alistair Spalding, the theatre’s acclaimed year-round programme spans dance of every kind, from contemporary to flamenco, Bollywood to ballet, salsa to street dance and tango to tap. Since 2005, it has helped to bring over 130 new dance works to the stage and its award-winning commissions and collaborative productions regularly tour internationally. Sadler’s Wells supports 16 Associate Artists, three Resident Companies, an Associate Company and three International Associate Companies. It also nurtures the next generation of talent through research and development, running the National Youth Dance Company and a range of programmes including Wild Card, New Wave Associates, Open Art Surgery and Summer University.
Located in Islington, north London, the current theatre is the sixth to have stood on the site since it was first built by Richard Sadler in 1683. The venue has played an illustrious role in the history of theatre ever since, with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Opera all having started at Sadler’s Wells. Sadler’s Wells is an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation and currently receives approximately 9% of its revenue from Arts Council England.  

 

ABOUT JAKOP AHLBOM
Over the last 10 years theatre maker Jakop Ahlbom has developed a trademark theatrical form that unites theatre, mime, dance, music and the world of illusion. He has a unique talent for combining powerful visual language with equally powerful content. Born in Sweden in 1971, Ahlbom came to the Netherlands in the 1990s to attend the Mime department of De Theaterschool in Amsterdam. He has worked under his own name since 2000, building up a distinctive and original body of work. In addition to Horror (2014) his successes include Stella Maris (2000), Lost (2004), Vielfalt (2006), Innenschau (2010),Lebensraum (2012), Life: A User’s Manual (2013) and Swan Lake (2016). Ahlbom has already achieved international success touring extensively across Europe, New Zealand and the USA. He has also directed his first opera Hoffmann for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and choreographed the dance film Off Ground, directed by Boudewijn Koole and starring Louise Lecavalier, which won the prestigious TV award the Prix Italia.