By Anne-Louise Fortune
The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath is probably the Lovecraft story that is most well-known to those people who do not consider themselves to be Lovecraft aficionados. Even if the precise details are unclear, the vibe of a quest for a dream city, and lots of cats, is something that appeals to a wide audience.
Presented here as a reading of the short story, this Dreamquest features a soundtrack composed and performed by Sam Enthoven. The melody perfectly underscored the narration, with effective use of Enthoven’s theremin and clever use of echo and other effects to create an atmosphere that grew from excited to perilous to surreal and back through terror to acceptance. The soundtrack was like being held in a warm hug by a cat that wants to simultaneously hug you and claw your face off.
The narration by Jim Osman was evocative and spell-binding. Osman is obviously an accomplished performer, and even though he was seated throughout his performance, his voice alone was enough to capture the audience’s attention.
Engaging the audience’s sense of sight, the narration and soundscape were supplemented by festival director T. L. Wiswell’s inspired use of shadow puppets to create a visual landscape to accompany the words and music. Using an old-school overhead projector, various shapes and figures were positioned to create a mesmerising sight that added to the dreamlike quality of the production as a whole.
It is inevitable that a new collaboration of creatives, as this was, may experience some teething troubles. Wiswell would have benefited from a larger table on which to set out their various puppets and projections and perhaps also a stylus to reduce the amount of intruding fingers on the edge of the projector glass. Perhaps one more rehearsal would have allowed for some moments to proceed more smoothly. But these are tiny niggles.
This was a beautifully adapted, cleverly rendered presentation of one of Lovecraft’s best-known tales, delivered in a way which managed to surprise even the most fervent Lovecraft devotees. We’d be interested to see this production again if it returned at a future event. Mesmerising and enchanting, we would all surrender our sanity to the army of cats for an opportunity to be lulled to the city of Unknown Kadath if the seduction was always this sweet.
