Events at Abney

Saturday 12 MayWorkshopShadow puppets 1-3pmFor children aged 5-12 and accompanying adultsFree (donations very welcome!)Justina Kochansky leads up to 20 children in making a shadow puppet show, to be performed at the end of the session. The children will make their own simple puppets, and create a story based on the flora and fauna in Abney Park Cemetery.Justina has been playing with puppets for most of her life, but more seriously for the past 15 years. She studied wayang kulit in Bali and has performed shadow plays in Boston and San Francisco. She is co-creator and performer in the puppet opera ‘Jokasta’, to be performed at Abney 25-28 May & 31 May-3 June.Bookings and enquiries: 0207 275 7557, abney-park@geo2.poptel.org.ukSunday 13 MayWorkshopPercussion 1-3pmFor children aged 7-11 and accompanying adultsFree (donations very welcome!)Composer Adam Donen leads children in a variety of exercises and games to explore the use of everyday objects (bottles, pans etc) for making music. The workshop will end with a joint percussive performance!Adam Donen is the writer and composer of the puppet opera Jokasta, being performed in Abney Park 25-28 May & 31 May-3 June. Recent other works include a requiem, co-written with The Cure’s Roger O’ Donnell, and the internationally acclaimed album Vampires, released in the UK by Cargo Records.Bookings and enquiries: 0207 275 7557, abney-park@geo2.poptel.org.ukExhibition in the Abney chapel‘Life Is Whenever You Die’ 2-5pm20-min viewing sessions, 10 people per session. £3 pp suggested donationHard hats must be worn and a waiver of liability signed. Over 18s only.Bookings and enquiries: 0207 275 7557, abney-park@geo2.poptel.org.ukSaturday 19 MayWorkshops & Performances‘He Dreamed Himself’12-1pm Open Rehearsal1.30-2.30pm Voice workshop2.30-3pm Open static trapeze3-4pm Contact improvisation workshop7.30-8pm PerformanceWorkshops Free, but donations welcome.Performance £5 adults, £3 children/concessions.’He Dreamed Himself’ is a blend of contact-dance, circus, story-telling and music. Aimed at both adults and children, it will draw the audience into a mythical playground with impossible characters, inventive language and imaginary instruments. Before the performance, the company will be running various workshops in dance, voice and aerial circus.Bookings and enquiries: 0207 275 7557, abney-park@geo2.poptel.org.ukSunday 20 MayWorkshops & Performances‘He Dreamed Himself’12-2pm Voice and dance workshop for jam3-5pm Jam7.30-8pm PerformanceWorkshops Free, but donations welcome.Performance £5 adults, £3 children/concessions. .’He Dreamed Himself’ is a blend of contact-dance, circus, story-telling and music. Aimed at both adults and children, it will draw the audience into a mythical playground with impossible characters, inventive language and imaginary instruments. Before the performance, the company will be running various workshops in dance, voice and aerial circus.Bookings and enquiries: 0207 275 7557, abney-park@geo2.poptel.org.ukFri 25-Mon 28 May&Thurs 31 May-Sun 3 JunePerformance‘Jokasta’ – An Opera/Musical/Puppet Show9-10pm, £10’Jokasta: A puppet opera’ is a modern gothic fairytale about love, freedom, dreams and illusion. An old and very wealthy woman hates everything and everyone in the world. Her only love is a female puppet, given to her as a child. Every night she prays that she might become a puppet and spend her remaining days with her true love… a Magician and a Scientist appear, each offering to make her wish come true. The work features shadow puppetry and marionettes by American puppeteer and maskmaker Justina Kochansky, with music by 26-year-old composer, poet and songwriter Adam Donen. The pair met in the cemetery last year (“I’d lost my cigarette holder behind a gravestone. She found it. We’ve been friends ever since,” says Donen.)More information: kochansky.squarespace.com/jokasta/Book tickets from wegottickets.com/location/6940