★★★★
‘Ismini Papaioannou’s set and costume design hints at the fantastic and horrific with a touch of humour.’ Lou Reviews
★★★★
‘I am never disappointed at the inventiveness of the sets that the Arcola manages to provide in such a small space and Ismini Papaioannou’s set design for Fabulous Creatures is no exception’. Everything Theatre
★★★★
‘Ismini Papaioannou’s costume and set steal the show with detailed and sparkly designs’. The Reviews Hub
Written by Quentin Beroud & Emily Louizou
Directed by Emily Louizou
Movement Direction by Ioli Filippakopoulou
Music & Sound Design by Irene Skylakaki
Set & Costume Designer: Ismini Papaioannou
Assistant Designer: Ugne Garcia Velickaite
Lighting Design by David Doyle
Performed by Hannah van der Westhuysen, Jazz Jenkins, Kate Newman
Produced by Collide Theatre & Elizabeth Filippouli
full credits
Production Photography: Sophie Giddens
Welcome to the Monstrous Cabaret Club, a place to drown more than your sorrows, where the acts are unreal and the voices to die for! Whether you’re strapping in for the Sirens or caught between Scylla and Charybdis, you’re in for a night you’ll never survive/forget! Once the pre-eminent killers of the mythical age, who even Gods would turn to for their dirty work, they’ve long given up their license to kill. Now they run a private club hidden somewhere between Mount Olympus and the Underworld.
The set and costume world invites the audience to an underground cabaret, where female monstrosity is reclaimed and celebrated.
The vision for the space is an underground, dark, mystical hybrid space, between our world and a monstrous underworld. The characters are attached to their space: is it a prison or a nest? The materials of the objects or set pieces in the space, associated symbolically with each character, and expanding to their costumes. The objects themselves transform into something uncanny, reflecting how these women are seen by society.
Through the exaggerated use of materials that could be considered repulsive, such as the animal-like hair of Scylla, the design challenges the audience’s perception of normality and female beauty standards.