THE GRIEF PARLOUR

The Grief Parlour is the second theatrical development for new Sydney-based Clockfire Theatre Company. This eclectic and experimental group was founded in 2011 by Australians Emily Ayoub and Roziye Delaney in the wake of graduating from the famous Jacques Lecoq International Theatre School in Paris.

Inspired by Ariane Mnouchkine and Theatre de Complicite, the company aims to create self-devised work that is entirely borne from the group. There is no script or writer or director per say, instead the cast is involved in every aspect of the production. Emily Ayoub says, “Yes, it would be easier working off a script, yes it would be easier working under a director – but instead we have complete autonomy as actors and collaborators, and the resulting show is imaginative, surprising and something you’ve never seen before.”

The show itself remains a slight mystery as Ayoub and Delany prefer for the synopsis to be secret, giving their audiences an opportunity to be surprised on the night.

But what they can tell you is that The Grief Parlour is, “set amongst the whiff of fuchsia, French drapes and the soothing quivers of a violin – it is a physical, darkly comic meditation on death, loss and decorum.”

May 30-Jun 3, Old 505 Theatre, 505/342 Elizabeth St, Surry Hills, $10-20,  venue505.com