#temple studios

[my-burnt-city]

having an extremely productive afternoon, comparing the headshots of the thirteen punchdrunk performers who were all in the drowned man, sleep no more (shanghai), and the burnt city, for a sort of ultimate 'how it started, how it's going' vibe

my main takeaways are

whoever was wielding the camera in shanghai was best at actually capturing everyone's beauty

we are so extremely blessed to have such experience of such incredible performers

at least three of these people, if not more, are clearly immortal vampires

[te-pu-si-ti]

I saw Her

I thought I never would.

[readwithjoy]

If you could add a character from The Drowned Man to SNM, in a way that integrates them into the setting well, who would it be

I’m having a hard time imagining this, partly because I know SNM so well, and I was only able to see The Drowned Man four times. There are several characters in TDM that I never even saw much less followed. 

Maybe Conrad because I think he would fit thematically in some interesting ways. 

[thefoolsloop]

And that's thirty-six months too long

Three years since Temple Studios closed its doors. In that time the memories have not so much faded as become blurred - still there, still evocative, but somehow bleached, faded, soft, more transparent. The cliché of "like an old photo" is close to the mark, but these memories are less pictorial than holistic: the booming of multiple soundtracks clashing in mid-air, the feel of sweat under your mask while hurrying from one space to another, the wonderful scents - so familiar after repeated visits - that made you feel like you were arriving back home, the rustle of bark chip or scrunch of sand or squelch of linoleum under your feet. And... the emotions. Those emotions lie buried but stirring, undead spirits lurking in your subconscious. You hear the echo of their voices every day, as the show flits - briefly, or enduringly - into the front of your mind. They lie, waiting to be triggered by an encounter with a TDM cast member (as I found spectacularly in Shanghai), or a leaf through Julian Abrams' photo book, or a play through of your favourite tracks on Spotify, or the mere mention of peas, oranges, horses, chequered flooring, red curtains, roses, scissors... We gave birth to those memories in the Studios. They are our children, but unlike real children they will never leave us. They may fade, but they are so strong and immortal, they can be reanimated in seconds. Many of us have been changed permanently by them. We CAN go home any more.

[my-burnt-city]

it feels important to remember that this was one of the lots in the post-drowned man auction

Set of ceramic owls

The eyes of the Studio see everything. These ceramic owls are part of Claude Estee's personal collection.

[my-burnt-city]

Today is my Drowned Manniversary. It is now ten (!! TEN!!) years to the day since I first set foot inside those big red doors. I already knew Punchdrunk had changed my life for the better, but I had no idea that the best was still to come

[my-burnt-city]

1. How old were you when you learned that the performers recognise us even with masks on?

pretty young, 25 or under

sort of middling, between 26 and 45

old enough to not really care, 46 or over

they WHAT (today years old)

2. How did you learn the information?

a performer made it clear to me outside the show

a fellow audience member told me

i gleaned it within the context of the show

some combination of the above

3. Which performer were you particularly keen on at the time and thus whose face was it that floated into your mind as you learned this information and started immediately trying to work out how embarrassed you should be based on how much you've followed them around like a little baby duckling, now that you know they clocked it was you absolutely every time?

4. Did learning this information change the way you behave in the show(s)?

[my-burnt-city]

Sample 5m

This video is about TDM

shut up i'm not crying you're crying