2014: Step into the garden of good and evil with the Basilique Performing Arts Company

I recently wrote about of Romeo + Juliet, a unique re-imagining of Shakespeare’s tale of love, loss and tragedy, performed by the Basilique Performing Arts Company, and which features an inspired mix of  renaissance-inspired sets, 1940s costumes, and contemporary music.

While that production is set to continue until around mid-February, and is a must-see for anyone who hasn’t yet taken the opportunity to do so, the Company has now announced its next major – and equally ambitious –  undertaking.

In Spring 2014, the Basilique Performing Arts Company will be premiering Paradise Lost: The story of Adam and Eve’s original sin, choreographed and set to the fourteen movements of Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D minor.

Based on Milton’s epic blank verse poem, the production has been conceived and developed by the creative team of Canary Beck and Harvey Crabsticks. Each performance will run for some 60 minutes and comprise three Acts: The Creation, The Fall and The Expulsion. Through each, we will follow Satan, as he builds Hell, God as he creates the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Knowledge, Adam … and Eve; witness Satan’s beguiling of Eve, watch as she and Adam wilfully lust for one another in the face of God’s anger, only to be banished from the Garden of Eden; then finally, watch all that came after: the battle between  the forces of Good and Evil, and Adam and Eve’s lives after Eden. All have been specially choreographed, and each act will comprise a number movements from Mozart’s Requiem.

This promises to be a most amazing production, as demonstrated in the preview trailer – best watched full screen and in HD, if possible.

Paradise lost: The Story of Adam and Eve’s Original Sin will be staged at the Basilique Playhouse. All performances will be free, and the schedule will be announced in due course, and reported in these pages.

So get set for what is likely to be one of the highlights of the Second Life cultural calendar in 2014!