Created by the performing arts company MANY BATS, Ghost Town follows a group of city animals in the form of puppets through conflict and collaboration representing as musicians, artists and business owners, struggling to hold on to living and working in cultural community spaces in a gentrifying city.
Partly inspired by the 1980’s song ‘Ghost Town’ performed by the group The Special’s, which describes speaks to the urban decay, deindustrialisation, unemployment issues in inner cities, of that time and how these issues then directly affected arts, music and culture institutions;
“All the clubs have been closed down,
This place is coming like a ghost town,
Bands won’t play no more,
Why must the youth fight against themselves,
Government leaving the youth on the shelves,
This place is coming like a ghost town.
No job to be found in this country,
Can’t get on no more,
The people getting angry.”
Face aux politiques d'austérité et la disparition des espaces culturels, Ghost Town met en scène un groupe d'animaux luttant pour maintenir leur scène musicale en vie.
Inspiré par une chanson contestataire éponyume, écrite pendant les politiques d'austérités des années 1980 à Londres, ce spectacle de marionnettes montre l'actualité pressante de ces enjeux.
Although released over 40 years ago the issues have shifted but similar conflicts continue. The song is both a musical and narrative theme for the show which features a cast of puppet animals all who could be considered city vermins. Over the course of the show they navigate the closing of an old bar, a community hub and a bright spot in a culturally desolate cityscape as it is bought out by entrepreneurial new characters and how the repercussions of this affect the community in different ways.
The show wants to raise questions about the effect on the often older generations as they are bought out of their own businesses and community spaces, and highlight the responsibilities of young creatives as signalers of gentrification. We want to suggest the sense of loss and disillusionment created by not being able to rely on your home or business or cultural space having a definitive future. What does it mean to be a music, art or theater maker today and what different responsibilities are held across wealth, age and discipline gaps?
The show wants to raise questions about the effect on the often older generations as they are bought out of their own businesses and community spaces, and highlight the responsibilities of young creatives as signalers of gentrification. We want to suggest the sense of loss and disillusionment created by not being able to rely on your home or business or cultural space having a definitive future. What does it mean to be a music, art or theater maker today and what different responsibilities are held across wealth, age and discipline gaps?