THE ENCHANTED PALACE

Kensington Palace as you have never seen it before…

Opens at Kensington Palace, 26 March 2010 (until March 2012)

Historic Royal palaces in association with WILDWORKS, featuring Vivienne Westwood, William Tempest, Stephen Jones, Boudicca, Aminaka Wilmont and Echo Morgan.

From March 2010, Kensington Palace will become ‘The Enchanted Palace’ In a unique multisensory exhibition combining fashion, performance, and dazzling WILDWORKS spectacle revealing Kensington’s magnificent State Apartments in a magical new light.

Guided by the whispered voices of servants long gone, visitors will make their way into the palace via the private backstairs and discover the stories of the former royal residents and the life of the court – a world within a world, with its own time and rituals.

“We have found the stories of the Palace incredibly inspiring, they’re like true fairy tales - the rebellious princess, who was so universally loved that, when she died in childbirth, London ran out of black mourning fabric; the little sickly prince who played peashooters with his uncle, the king; the court that kept a wild feral boy as a pet; the young princess who wept for three days when told she had to marry a man twice her age; the two friends who had a quarrel that caused deaths, changed the fortunes of great families and the map of Europe. It’s such rich material for art and theatre – and to be exploring these stories in the rooms where they took place is thrilling”

WILDWORKS Artistic Director Bill Mitchell

If you would like to know more about THE ENCHANTED PALACE click here on the image

WILDWORKS produces unique landscape theatre in challenging places and with extraordinary communities. Our productions have been sited in old quarries, derelict mines, working fishing quays, abandoned department stores, a Napoleonic citadel, the Green Line in Nicosia… We have worked with gospel choirs, drama groups, local artists, surfers, tea dance regulars, North African migrants, cake-makers, ex-miners, a young hip-hop group, abseilers and a Hell’s Angels chapter.

Distinctively Cornish, WILDWORKS draws on a wider and older European tradition. At the same time it has elements in common with the best new work produced through the networks of Creation Centres and Festivals in Europe.

Drawing its power from community, it integrates music, dance and theatre. We use everything: food, stunning imagery, action, film, music and text to tell our story. Narrative is at the centre of our work. We bring the seeds of a story to a site and weave in the strands that tie people and place together.

As a company we are drawn to stories that are both epic and intimate, human stories that can touch and resonate with audiences across barriers of language, age and nationality. The strength of the work lies in the fusion of a strong sense of place, the power of people and the most distinct theatrical imagination Audiences all over Europe have responded with delight and no small sense of awe to this work.