Masque of the Red Death

In Spring 2008, Gemma was commissioned by the Battersea Arts Centre to collaborate with sound and performance artist Melanie Wilson.

Together they worked with groups of South London primary school students to create a mixed media installation for the commission space in Punchdrunk's most recent production 'The Masque of the Red Death'.

Using Punchdrunk's magnificent set as inspiration: a transformative interpretation of Edgar Allen Poe’s dark and decadent world, the installation was a ‘small person’s’ interpretation of the production.

Gemma worked with the young people to produce the visual side of the installation, using digital photography, animation and shadow puppetry to illustrate the sound work that Melanie Wilson’s groups produced.

It was a fifteen-minute piece, where six audience members at a time were guided into a homely space by children’s voices. There they saw a story come to life in a fireplace, they heard secrets emerge from cardboard boxes and a musical 3 dimensional ball engaged the audience further.