RECOMMENDED THEATRE: Of Saints and Go-go Boys, Toynbee Studios

<p>This July, Joseph Mercier and his company PanicLab present their latest work Of Saints And Go-Go Boys, in London for three nights at Toynbee Studios. Commissioned for Homotopia’s tenth anniversary and premiered at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre last November, Of Saints And Go-Go Boys is an uncompromising and erotically charged descent into a world of misfits and sinners…</p> <p>3rd July 2014</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4611617526.jpg" width="461" height="307" alt="" title=""/></p> <p></p><p>In a hedonistic world decorated with cheap glamour, three outcasts search for a different kind of Sainthood through glorious self-destruction…</p><p></p><p>Of Saints and Go-go Boys interrogates and investigates party culture, honouring the abject, the shocking, and the profane, inspired by Jean Genet’s novel Our Lady of the Flowers. The audience are invited into an intimate studio space transformed into a small flat, where they are free to navigate as they wish…</p><p></p><p>Joseph Mercier explains: 'I’m interested in how Genet lived, and his refusal to accept normality and mainstream frameworks for pleasure. With Genet, being a “bad boy” was a religious calling. So I wondered how Genet would comment on modern queer life, and what it might mean to live like Genet today.'</p><p></p><p>Slowly but surely I want to strip her of every kind of happiness so as to make a saint of her.</p><p>- Jean Genet, Our Lady of the Flowers</p><p></p><p>Joseph Mercier trained at the School of Alberta Ballet, received a BFA at Concordia University in Montreal and MA in Directing at the Central School of speech and Drama. He recently completed a PhD at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where he also teaches movement and academic research. </p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4611617525.jpg" width="460" height="690" alt="" title=""/></p> <p>PanicLab is a company started by producer Clara Giraud and Joseph Mercier to produce and create projects with a regular company of collaborators, including: sound designer Dinah Mullen, lighting designer Ziggy Jacobs and Scenographer Rachel Good. </p><p></p><p>PanicLab has been making work since 2008, touring international festivals and UK venues such as Soho Theatre, New Wolsey Theatre, Unity Theatre Liverpool, mac Birmingham to name a few. Cruising, Clubbing, Fucking, created in 2011, toured extensively around the UK. Most recently, the company premiered Throb at The Place and created its own version of The Rite of Spring. </p><p></p><p>Mercier is acquiring a reputation as a choreographic provocateur – Luke Jennings, The Observer</p><p>A performance by PanicLab</p><p> </p><p>Directed by Joseph Mercier</p><p></p><p>Performers and co-creators: Jordan Lennie, Joseph Mercier, Zachariah Fletcher</p><p>Co-Commissioned by Homotopia & Unity Theatre </p><p></p><p>Funded by Arts Council England</p><p></p><p>17th July 2014 at 8pm</p><p>18th July 2014 at 6pm and 8pm</p><p>19th July 2014 at 6pm and 8pm</p><p>Tickets £12</p><p>Book tickets online: <a href="http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/events/3532">http://www.artsadmin.co.uk/events/3532</a></p><p>Or by calling 020 7650 2350 or emailing admin@artsadmin.co.uk</p><p>For ages 16+, contains explicit sexual content and nudity.</p><p>This is a performance for a standing audience – if you use a wheelchair or require a chair, please inform the box office so we can accommodate your needs.</p><p></p><p></p><p> </p>