Dark Waters

Together with French playwright Antoine Thiollier, Laurent Delom is developing a long epic narrative that describes the inner journey of underwater descent. Physical movement is combined with metaphorical spiritual explorations. The narrative is intended to be adapted into a theatre text, possibly with the addition of (psalm) singing, with an emphasis on rhythms and repetitions.

The broader research project dark waters aims to create new hybrid forms of immersive performativity, to understand the phenomenon of ‘immersion’ and to speculate on its relationship to contemporary forms of spiritual expression. Dark waters uses collaboration as a method across four disciplines, with the aim of uniting different sources of inspiration in a coherent immersive experience. The literary component of the project draws on the rich, expressive language of Biblical psalms, H.P. Lovecraft’s horror fiction and self-help literature, in a narrative that delves deeply into themes of mystery, faith, fear and hope.