Photographs by AB Photography
Dismembered Empire is a Steampunk style parallel world, where Liverpool has become the centre for world trade and economic power. Certain infamous debate raging between two famous scientists, Tesla and Edison, has reached such significance it is ripping the ‘Empire’ in two.
The project is based on the time of the late Industrial Revolution – an important era for scientific, technological and socio-economic change. Inspired by real life renegades of Industrial Revolution Liverpool, such as Edward Rushton; poet, seafarer and abolitionist- the project’s title is taken from one of his poems. The audience can delve into this imagined world in many ways, this first show being a crucial event in the lives of our characters and the history of the re-imagined world.
‘Dismembered Empire’ is a team of musicians, actors, production crew & makers who create site-specific, immersive performances. Our previous work includes an event at the Williamson Tunnels in Liverpool, and at Threshold 2012. Jenn Catterall, the project’s Creator and Musical Director, worked as an MD on Hope Street Limited 2010 Emerging Artists Scheme.
We ‘world-build’ – our characters and story-arcs build a world for our audience to step into, and interact with. Immersive theatre means that our audience get more than a performance where they are passive observers- by interacting with our characters they can change the course of events. We have elements of gaming, social media use and technology to enhance this.
We like to take our audiences on a journey, figuratively and literally, in this case moving from the old gallery, to the final location. Part of this journey will involve a procession with performance (music, movement and acting) through the street.
Musically, we have a range of instruments which reflect and combine different genres and time periods, which can be used to create soundscapes, soundtracks to create atmosphere, or tell stories via lyrics.
DE’s work can be described as ‘steampunk’ or ‘retro-futuristic’ – we like to take ideas, culture, technology etc from the past and give them contemporary relevance- ‘remixing’ history.
You can also find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Soundcloud.
well done guys 
xx
