Vanishing Point to Present THE DESTROYED ROOM

Acclaimed Scottish theatre company Vanishing Point's latest production, The Destroyed Room, takes its inspiration from Jeff Wall's celebrated photograph, which was famously featured on the cover of Sonic Youth's album of the same name. It shows a ransacked room, every item of furniture torn up and destroyed, and posits the question - what happened?

Lenton's production uses the image as a metaphor for the impending threat to western privilege and extends this metaphor by focussing on the recording of a TV show, as a group of guests gather to digest world events. They sit among potted plants and standard lamps, drinking wine and eating nibbles, discussing - from the safety of their own environment - the things they have witnessed and debating the ethics of watching. Around them, cameras glide, filming their every word and every reaction, beaming them live onto a big screen. But as the debate intensifies, the atmosphere begins to change.

Speaking of the show, director Matthew Lenton said:

"The Destroyed Room is about the profusion of lenses, which bring the world right into our rooms but also keep it at a distance. In earlier productions we have been interested in the nature of voyeurism and being a witness. With The Destroyed Room we take this one step further, delving deeper into the moral issues around witnessing, and what happens when the witness finally becomes the witnessed. It will question how we talk about things we have seen, particularly through the media, exploring the gap between what we say and how we would act in the same situation. It's about our privileged window on the world, but how the view through the glass is changing."

The production brings together regular members of the Vanishing Point creative team Kai Fischer (Design and Lighting Design), Mark Melville (Sound and Music Composition) and actors Elicia Daly, Pauline Goldsmith and Barnaby Power.

Conceived and directed by Matthew Lenton, and created in partnership with the cast and creative team, The Destroyed Room, is a Vanishing Point - Battersea Arts Centre co-production in association with Tron Theatre and Eden Court. It will be created in Autumn 2015 and early Spring 2016.

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