There are those who, bizarrely, cannot see inside my mind to know what happens in each part of the Come Bargain trilogy. So I might as well tell you.
Come Bargain With Uncanny Things
In brief: You are part of a community, coming together to bargain with uncanny things to help your neighbours.
Detail: The first show created, during this ritualistic piece you’ll arrive, be greeted by professional bargainers (people with expertise in bargaining, legally bound to let non-practitioners make the decisions), and be presented with appeals from various members of the community. You’ll decide which people to help, and master the arts of making offerings (to win the Thing’s favour), invocations (to ask it to do things), and studying to learn new ways of influencing and controlling it.
High concept: This show’s all about how we engage with the Uncanny Thing (and thus our world, our community, and each other). The constant questions are: do we seek to please it with freedom or command it? Risk bringing more magic into the world or deny ourselves access to power? What are our priorities as a group? You deal with the Thing and each other as equals; people bond in remarkable ways.
Come Worship Our Uncanny King
In brief: You are part of the court of an uncanny creature, striving to win its favour.
Detail: Tested at Voidspace Live 2024, during this comedy you’ll be greeted by longstanding courtiers of the tyrannical Uncanny King, who is as unpredictable as a storm. As subjects of its kingdom (a slice of reality it’s claimed and twisted as its own domain), you are asked to conduct a ritual celebrating and reflecting on it, creating gifts and offerings in its honour, appealing to it for boons, and studying how to please it further (or try to avoid its rules).
High concept: This show’s about how we engage with the Uncanny Thing - still a metaphor for our world, but when it is more powerful than us. It is a tyrant, it is a storm, it is an environmental threat beyond our control. It doesn’t care about treating everyone the same. Do you want to win individual favour or work with the group? To build tender relationships or try to advance yourself? What can you understand of a power beyond your control or reach? And, of course, I do enjoy the farcical relationships between the mocking, flattering King and its constantly-disappointing courtiers.
Come Murder An Uncanny Thing
In brief: A vigilante has captured an Uncanny Thing, and asks their community to bring it to justice.
Detail: During the first run of Come Bargain, some guests tried to torture the Uncanny Thing. After all, it’s a monster. This is the show still in development, where a community are asked to act as something between a righteous mob and a jury, tearing information from the Thing, using it to repair the damage done by its predatory nature, and trying to decide what punishment looks like for something so far away from human. What happens when you have the devil in chains?
High concept: This show’s all about how we relate to the Uncanny Thing (metaphors!) when we have power over it. Do we treat it with respect? Resentment? Anger? Audiences are asked how far they’ll go; what they think is right; how they think justice and power tie together. You deal with the Thing and each other as people under pressure, finally able to reach something that might give a little resolution.
High concept (everything): in a world where there is no real intrinsic justice or logic, human community matters. What do we do together?
If that sounds like your cup of tea (or eldritch potion of your choice), do consider backing our crowdfunder.
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