Were we in the right place?
It was the Eve of Halloween. My friend and I had arrived at Camden. It was late and we felt our way along a dark path hugging the canal. The directions we'd been given were sketchy; sketchy enough to allow a certain unease creep upon us. Shivering, I could blame the icy bite in the wind.
At long last, happening upon a gathering of people at Camden Lock, I felt a relief. We had arrived.
A brief and inconclusive exchange with one of the group then followed: "Are you here for what we're here for?" Hushed voices. It didn't seem right to be direct about the reason for the gathering... not on Halloween. Mystery and a little bit of fear were too tempting to dispel.
The Beauchamp Lodge Electric Barge was far larger than I thought it would be. Everyone was onboard now and I doubt anyone knew what might happen next. Discomfort and excitement gripped me. And then it started.
Scary Little Girls began their performance... ghost stories, dark poetry, scenes from Dracula, haunting songs... as we slipped through the night. A feeling of sliding sideways. The canal was tar-black and deep. The fingers of weeping willows brushed my neck as the ghost stories stirred a fear that I'd rather not think about again. Ink-black silence was broken only by the words and by the occasional barge-creek or knock. Hard to imagine we were in the centre of London. No bystander was there to see us glide through. One duck beat its wings against the breaking water to escape our passage. Perhaps nobody knew we were there.
Time slipped sideways. I had become part of the night, part of the darkness, part of the stories.
A curious and mesmerising experience. Future productions here at Scary Little Girls
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment