Garden of Delights by Fernando Arrabal

Dirt [contained], in association with Long Island City Artists, present this play, a surreal journey by Fernando Arrabal, directed by Maria Swisher, that dives head first into the psyche of a tortured artist.

Garden of Delights

• Performances on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm.
• By Fernando Arrabal.
• Cast: Tana Sirois, Adam Giannone, Olivier Renaud and Maria Swisher.

Garden of Delights is a surreal play that takes its audience on a fantastical journey following protagonist Lais, a charming, yet self-loathing actress, through a bizarre look at her sadomasochistic experience of love and art. Isolated in her home with only a caged beast-like partner and flock of infantile sheep to distract her from her troubled past, she spirals down into painful memories and erotic fantasies that blur the line between reality and imagination.

Fernando Arrabal is a Spanish playwright, writer, filmmaker, and novelist. He is a founder of Théâtre Panique (Panic Theatre), a surrealistic and sadomasochistic mingling of the Theatre of Cruelty and Theatre of the Absurd, which is designed to both punish and delight audiences. Arrabal’s work is known for creating surreal worlds where characters behave like children but perform terrible acts of cruelty, staging events which shock audiences and purge them of negative energies in pursuit of raw beauty.

He is a man who plays. He conceives art as a game, and the world is turned into a game the very moment he touches it.

—Milan Kundera.

Related event

LIC-A (Long Island City Artists) curates an exhibition specifically themed to Dirt [contained]’s immersive production of Garden of Delights.

Both events take place in The Plaxall Gallery’s 8,000 sq ft warehouse space. This uniquely blended and theme-driven experience will couple the visual and dramatic arts. LIC-A’s curated art show will open on July 20, with open during gallery hours, Thursday evenings from 6 pm to 10 pm, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons between 11 am and 6 pm.