The Salisbury Proverbs
A temporary and shape-changing monument to celebrate Salisbury's most famous and permanent one. Located next to Salisbury cathedral, the production involved 25 performers, singers and musicians, the Festival chorus and over 10,000 breeze blocks. The performance itself consisted of a network of proverbial and allegorical narratives which were given an architectural and sculptural form - a version of Breughel's Netherlandish Proverbs.
Directed by Julian Maynard Smith
Music by Howard Moody
"a combination of music and architecture unlike anything Salisbury has yet experienced ... as the cast moved the blocks, singing and rhythmically moving in complex patterns, almost imperceptibly creating new shapes, arches, towers, lofty structures that suddenly tumbled down, trapping bodies; new arches and elegant pillars growing out of the ruins, only to disintegrate into rubble themselves, reborn again and finally consumed in the flames ... a community project, rooted in the ancient heritage of the city and open to all the city's people"
The Blackmore Vale Press
-
The Salisbury International Arts Festival
An ArtsAdmin production, 1997
