The flamboyant excesses associated with the relatively short life of Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquis of Anglesey, are the stuff of legend (or at least deserve to be). He squandered his inheritance on a lavish social life and accumulated massive debts. Regarded as the "black sheep" of the family, he was famed for his ‘Butterfly Dance’, inspired by the Follies Berger pioneer Loie Fuller that earned him the sobriquet ‘the Dancing marquis’.His prodigious spending on jewellery and theatrical costumes eventually bankrupted the family dynasty, but his life story is set to be re-examined through a new innovative dance production. Gloria Days is a multidisciplinary solo work performed by the award-winning Welsh artist Marc Rees and produced by Cardiff-based mes:a International Performance Collective. The production premiers at Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea 18-19 October as part of the Swansea Festival and then transfers to Diversions Dance House, Cardiff presented by Wales Millennium Centre, 24-27 October. Gloria Days is supported by a world-class creative team, including opera designer, John Macfarlane, who has designed a unique headdress for the production (made at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden). The performance seeks through dance to reconstruct this remarkable flamboyant character and reveal the complex and rather tragic figure that lay beneath all the glitz, glamour and frivolity. At the height of his extravagance it is reported he squandered £500,000 on jewels and outfits alone, the equivalent amount today would be 35 million pounds! One example of his superabundance saw him convert the family chapel into a theatre modelled on Sarah Bernhardt's and mounted a series of spectacular productions with a professional company for his friends, guests and the local community (this during the Welsh religious revival!). He eventually died penniless in 1905, aged 29, leaving his family to pick up the pieces and his enormous debts. A short film, ‘The Dancing Marquis Diaries’ which forms an integral part of the project has also been shortlisted for the prestigious Iris Prize, the International Gay and Lesbian Short Film Prize, valued at £25,000. The winner of the inaugural prize, who will be invited to make their next short film in the UK, will be announced during a three day festival held in Cardiff from October 4th. Marc Rees said, "In Gloria Days I have the opportunity to create an interdisciplinary art work of beauty, insight and dexterity. This is not a frivolous, camp reconstruction of an exuberant character but an occasion to honour an extraordinary Welsh historical figure who challenged and subverted Edwardian notions of class, gender, decorum and theatrical propriety. I have respect for his pioneering attitude and his unashamed love of extravagance, especially when you consider the outwardly conservative period in which he lived. In my view he truly deserves to be remembered, revered and above all celebrated, and what better way to achieve this than through the medium he cherished most – lavish performance?” |
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Tuesday, October 2, 2007 |
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