Heathers Short Cuts is a collaboration with Nora Jacobs and Nicole Sabella and deals with the role of supporting actresses in horror movies. What happens to them in the movies and how do film careers evolve?

We all embodied Heather and were all dressed in black leather costumes of the same size. The model of our costumes was a transferred stage technician jumper and could be seen as a by-product of murder. We investigate in our research how to create an atmosphere of uncanniness and horror in a theatre context. Our use of props and technical aspects in theatre is a physical one in regard to texture, light and shadow. As site-specific working is part of our artistic method we experimented with the black box and the theatre-performer-audience situation. We intervene with staged theatrical special effects, for instance the production of fog or a telephone rings, and let the interferences be part of the play on stage.

As a climax of the play we staged a red carpet event, where we celebrate the act of rolling out the red carpets. This part of the show was accompanied by screaming spotlights when we performed the song I’m a final girl in a horror world, which was based on the rewritten lyrics of the famous pop song I’m a Barbie girl from Aqua. The song was performed with simple choreography, which referred to the origins of the movements of background singers. Except the staged red carpet part of the play was performed with working light.

PERFORMED AT:

Freshly Scratched Festival, Battersea Arts Center, London, UK 2015

CREDITS

Performance documentation by India Roper-Evans