Teatime Wonder Game

A table sits alone surrounded by empty chairs. The table is dressed for the occasion, lacy white tablecloths, delicate teacups, proud teapots and flickering candlelight. But the tablecloths are stained, cold dregs of tea float in the teacups and the flowers are withered and dried. It looks like the party has finished but its only just beginning...

TEATIME WONDER GAMEFigmentation Art Collective & SlowArt

Kasia Kaszowska E [email protected]

Experience a taste of the surreal in a performance that draws upon an eclectic and bizarre mix of sourced material: slices of Alice in Wonderland, a splash of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a lump or two of Dali’s surrealism, a pinch of Peter Pan - all brewed together with a teaspoonful or two of Monty Pythons’ Circus. Be immersed in a dreamland and a secret tea party, play a game with unexpected rules or even, as it may sometimes seem, no rules at all!

The audience is invited to join the bizarre and surrealistic tea party and sit around a table set out with a traditional white tablecloth and a cornucopia of crockery and table vessels in all kinds of styles, forms and shapes, with half burned out candles, tired flowers and attractive but worn and chipped tea pots and table ware.

Volunteers are taken from the crowd and seated around the table, becoming live ‘game pieces’, the table is the ‘game board’, and the game ‘stations’ are plates and cups, which contain different messages and tasks. The hidden messages discovered by the players trigger various ‘happenings’ and the entertaining elements of the performance. These could be: an explosion of a confetti, the appearance of a mysterious creature behind a curtain, a live music performance - or a song, a dance or someone stepping on the table and bursting into a raucous folk song in an obscure language.

TEATIME WONDER GAMEFigmentation Art Collective & SlowArt

Kasia Kaszowska E [email protected]

There will also be challenging tasks: like - for example - testing specialities from the witty Crone’s pantry, following an obscure tiny, scribbled treasure map to uncover a buried pearl, or being asked to give a brief performance such as (for example) standing up and shouting out ‘the three best things about yourself ’.

As different tasks are completed the participants of the game move around the table visiting the ‘game stations’ obtaining points as they go If the participants refuse a task or fail to fulfil it and lose all their points they forfeit the game thus freeing up their place for someone else to join in. The aim of the Teatime Wonder Game is to eradicate all the participants until one remains, they will win the Secret Treasure.

The performance aims to detach the audience and participants from the rush of their everyday lives, leave worries about the future and regrets of the past behind and be in the here and now – and experience their surroundings with all their senses. We want to help people; slow down, re-connect to their inner thoughts, unconstrain themselves. The performance art becomes the healing tool, helps to reset the mind, it is a detox session for overheated modern brains.

More information on http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/871617608/teatime-wonder-game and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lCux3FO5dQ

So, if you sit in front of the tea cup inscribed “drink me’ - do it! risk it! And at the bottom of the cup perhaps, you may find a secret message which may in turn trigger a melee of incidents.

The TEATIME WONDER GAME is a live performance game inspired by Alice in Wonderland. It takes approximately one hour and involves up to 8 performers (depending on budget and space available).We also have a full set of props including a beautiful collection of old crockery,

During the performance the participants are served different types of tea and offered a homemade sweets. The performance could be easily transformed into a pop-up cafe.