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| Photo by Dimitri Djuric |
From 8-12 July, a mini festival Certain Blacks will spring up at Rich Mix, which endeavours to bring diverse artists to the live stage.
Lady Vendredi aka Nwando Ebizie has just finished a successful run at Soho Theatre, and will bring her immersive theatre production The Passion Of Lady Vendredi to the festival on Friday 8th July.
What is it about Lady Vendredi that makes me want to scrap all my Friday night plans to see her? A packed show which gets you thinking and asking questions? A unique and original concept from a woman who is a master of many trades? See below:
The Passion of Lady Vendredi
“When we open our hearts we are as afraid of what we let out as what might let in.”
You are invited to immerse yourselves in our urban rituals, or to stand quietly itching to move as they are enacted. What you will attend, if you come, is a piece of immersive theatre, it is a live gig, it is piece of popular live art, it is a contemporary ritual.
The Origin Story
Lady Vendredi is from a parallel dimension called Nri. The biochemistry of this universe is slightly different: people are green and photosynthesise in a similar way to plants, using quantum entanglement to gain energy. In Nri the dominant religion is most similar to our African ancient religions or to Haitian Vodou. Christianity is a fringe religion, thought of as a bit quirky and exploited in the parallel dimension’s version of Nollywood cinema where people pray to an invisible 3 part white god. In the esoteric religion that Lady Vendredi was born into belief is considered as just a tool for changing reality.
Her Powers
Lady Vendredi learns to collapse wave functions at will, meaning that she can play with the probabilities of sub atomic particles, moving them in 4 dimensional space time. Realising that she can manipulate time and space and she manages to break through into our dimension.
Her Mission
In our world, she finds injustice, pain and a world of dogma and self-righteousness, factions and nations of True Believers dead set on destroying each other. To remedy this she forms a secular scientific non-religion called The Daughters of Manifestation:
“The type of intimacy that can be nurtured through this kind of process is invaluable to humanity. It is absolutely crucial in so much as it gives humanity a forum through which it can clearly understand the innate ability to choose, to choose its beliefs, and how they orientate towards positive or negative actions.”
From the Second Book of Eris (Handbook for the Daughters of Manifestation)
Sounds and Dreams
Discovering that in this dimension she has manifested a musical talent she travels to Cuba, Lincoln and Stoke Newington to gather a group of musicians to play her music. Finding so much beauty in the music of our world she sleeps and dreams and in the mornings the sounds of the rhythms of Haiti and West Africa, the melodies of Pergolesi, the bass thumping’s of old analogue synths and the experimental cries of Jazz trombones emerge.
The Journey
Before finally finding itself as a secular urban ritual at Soho Theatre this show previously incarnated as trashy performance art live PA's between Hackney and Italy, as an experimental dance, hip hop, voodoo gig in a Gallery in Bethnal Green, a piece of occult performance in Leicester an immersive a jazz gig at Latitude and as solo gig for Lady Vendredi at The Royal Festival Hall.
We are working with six dances and six rhythms from Haitian Vodou dance that have been taught to us by Zsuzsa Parrag who studied Haitian dance in Port-au-Prince with Florencia Pierre dance teacher and Vodou priestess. Our company’s work with her began in August 2013 at the inception of the current project.
Jonathan Grieve and the company
The Order Of MAS
[1] Purification Rites (first part is not open to the public)
[2] Opening of the Gates
“Give me just one chance, to look into your eyes
Crosses crossed on our back let us cross the other side”
[3] The Womb Mas Life and the myth are one!
“Love oh love oh love oh love
Love oh love oh love oh love
Love oh love oh love”
The House of Flow and the Blessing of the Intimates
Initiation of the Novice
“Take these fragments and hold them close wrap them in your version of forever we kneel down together we kneel down together.”
[iii] The Confession of the Willing Sacrifice to Mama
[4] The First Miracle
“Don't tell me Eris sowed discord stick a pig 23 on free Fridays gorge”
[5] Black Madonna and the Transformation of Pain into Beauty
“I need your approval before I open magic doors”
[6] Venus in Chains Cries Tears in the Rain
“Let the storms come, let them come, let the storms come let them come
Let the storms come, let them come, let them come”
[7] The Willing Sacrifice and the Opening of the Heart
“cuz you’re the sacrifice for our future fate
you are the reason why we are all here today
you're the offering to begin the wave
you’re the one we ain’t gonna save”
[8] A Healing of the Heart
[9] The Lord of Eroticism
“Take your ding take your ding and dong it!"
Curious to find out more?
You can book your tickets here:
You can find out more about Lady Vendredi here:
With thanks to Abstrakt Publicity
