Bedlam Dance (Atmos) from The Melodramatic Elephant in the Haunted Castle by Constantine Gras

This is a section of music scored by DJ Lysergide for a stage play, The Melodramatic Elephant in the Haunted Castle. It is a play about the intertwined fate of a Victorian actress and the Coronet theatre in the Elephant and Castle, London. The building will close down after 147 years ahead of demolition as the area is being regenerated.

The music provides the emotional tempo for a dance scene in which Marie Henderson, the actress, has just witnessed her theatre being burnt down and is driven to despair because she has lost all her costumes. She is draped in fabric by three ghostly figures as a premonition for her "madness" and subsequent internment in the mental hospital, Bedlam.

These are the notes written by the composer, DJ Lysergide:
"I knew from the minute I was told about composing a score for this melodramatic project, that I would be stepping out my comfort zone as I usually produce 200 – 400 BPM Hardcore Techno, the music used in the rave scene for the play.
Thankfully, I was supplied with a script with detailed musical notes and many examples of music from the 1800’s. I was kept up to date with video clips from the actors performing to get more ideas. I still had to do a lot of research on instruments used during this period and on melodrama as this was all new to me!
The majority of the pieces I produced were dark, eerie and atmospheric. I did a lot of layering with different instruments and pitches to achieve the sound I wanted. Everything was recorded with Ableton Live on either keyboard or guitar.
It did not take me long to come up with the main theme tune for the play as I felt comfortable after preparations. I recorded a few pieces and Constantine Gras chose the Atmos piece. This 8 minute composition was scored with 22 different instruments but the main tune theme is a mixture of violin and cello. It ended up being used in two sections of the play, the Bedlam dance scene and for Sandra Crisp’s animated movie.
What I enjoyed most about this project was that I had to write everything from scratch. There was no sampling. This really pushed me and I have a lot of material now for other projects".

The Melodramatic Elephant in the Haunted Castle play was performed by The People's Company on 8 November 2017 at the Coronet Theatre.

The art exhibition about the project that includes, drawings, films and installation art, is being shown at The Art Academy Gallery, 155 Walworth Road, SE17 1RS from 9-20 December 2017.

More detailed information can be found on the project website.
https://www.elephantmelodrama.com

This is an Arts Council England funded project.