New play explores Conrad's Heart of Darkness

The voice of Orson Welles, one of the 20th centuries most influential actors and directors features in a radical new production of Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness.

Playing the role of Joseph Conrad will be Eddie Tulasiewicz, making his professional acting debut, and who has run communications and public affairs for the National Churches Trust for the past ten years, and prior to that was Director of Communications for the Diocese of Westminster.

The Heart of Darkness tells the story of an English merchant sailor Charles Marlow, who travels to the Belgian Congo and experiences the full horror and degradation of colonial excess.

This new intimate multi-media adaptation of Joseph Conrad's 'The Heart of Darkness' is created by a joint UK-Congolese-Polish team of performance makers. The event includes models, maps, puppets, video, immersive sound, and Orson Welles' 1938 radio version of the story to take the audience on a terrifying journey into Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

Eddie Tulasiewicz said: "Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness shows the ever present danger of evil and the exploitation of people and natural resources. Set in colonial Africa, this production is timely, being staged when Russia is attempting to destroy Ukraine, where Conrad was born when part of it was in the Austro-Hungarian empire."

Director Like Dixon, who is bringing the show to London said: "The Heart of Darkness was used by Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now to suggest that the colonialism continues to significantly affect international interactions even in modern times. Joseph Conrad was originally born in what is now Ukraine, and the tragedy and evil that has befallen the country gives this new production added resonance. The horrors of Conrad's story have as strong a resonance today as they did when it was first published."

"It's really exciting that we are featuring extracts from Orson Welles' 1938 radio play of The Heart of Darkness. Welles wanted to make a film of the book, but various financial and production difficulties prevented that from happening. With words from Welles' never to be made film script, we are able to see the story through his eyes as well as Conrad's."

"The creative team began working on this project in 2017 in collaboration with The World Performance course at E15 Acting School in Southend creating a large-scale site-specific performance involving forty-plus undergraduate students, a small number of post-graduate students, and the core professional team at Tilbury Docks."

"Different approaches to telling the story of the book were explored. We looked at ways to reflect the later history of the Congo in performance. We researched the music and dance of the period - both African and European. We worked closely with the Tilbury on Thames Trust and The Thames Festival to create a one-off research performance at Tilbury Docks. The pandemic put all activities on hold, but we are now delighted to bring it to audiences for the first time."

This new adaptation of The Heart of Darkness will have its world premiere at Torriano Meeting House, Torriano Avenue London NW5 2RX on Saturday 30th September 2023 at 4pm and 7pm and on Sunday 1st October 2023 at 2pm.

The production will tour to venues in Belgium and Poland in 2024 and there are plans to stage it on a boat sailing down the Congo River. Further London dates are also being planned.

Tickets can be purchased online at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/heart-of-darkness-tickets-645943473317

Luke Dixon's work as a theatre director and performance maker has embraced Love and the Revolution with the Berliner Ensemble, 'The Golem' with Theater Brostowska in Prague and Bratislava, 'Age of the Saints' in Dublin, the British tour of Noël Coward's 'Brief Encounter', Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens' 'Blue Wedding' in Oxford, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in South Africa, 'Sweetness & Light' in London and Colchester, 'A Summer of Ecosex'' in France and England, 'Mulheres de Shakespeare' in Brazil and (at The National Portrait Gallery in London) 'Chasing the Butterfly' and 'Spiderdance'. His productions for theatre nomad, of which he was Artistic Director for 20 years, have been seen in China, North America, South Africa, Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Czech and Slovak Republics, Spain and the UK.