This August, Camden Fringe audiences are invited into Eclipse Ballroom, an immersive, postmodern performance presented by Play in the Pocket at The Courtyard Theatre and The Cockpit Theatre. Blending physical theatre, holography, and experimental live music, this interdisciplinary work conjures a dreamlike ritual of intimacy, queerness, and connection in the digital age.
Every night, ghosts slip into marginalized human bodies. They gather in an abandoned swimming pool and name it Eclipse Ballroom, a spectral nightclub where disembodied spirits revel, connect, and celebrate their reclaimed bodies, life, weight, senses, and even intimacy. When a living woman crosses into this ghostly realm, the fragile balance unravels, sparking chaos and raising urgent questions: Is the body a vessel or a truth? Can memory prove we ever existed?
Fusing devised physical theatre, holographic projection, and live-band improvisation, Eclipse Ballroom blurs the line between the living and the spectral. Responsive soundscapes, moving-image collaborations, and choreographed physicality evoke urban nostalgia and the longing for intimacy in an era when digital life often eclipses human touch.
Developed by a group of young Asian theatre-makers, in collaboration with a moving-image artist, computational designer, and experimental musicians, the piece grew from research into loneliness, memory, and digital disembodiment. The creative team has crafted a visual language of dissolving architecture and fluid materials, underscoring themes of impermanence, embodiment, and shared presence.
Speaking to young people and marginalized communities navigating the fluid boundaries between virtual selfhood and corporeal existence, Eclipse Ballroom delivers a haunting meditation on nostalgia, memory, and the politics of embodiment in the post-covid period and cyber age.
Event DetailsVenue: The Courtyard Theatre
Dates: July 29-30, 7:00 PM
Venue: The Cockpit Theatre
Dates: August 19–20, 7:00 PM
Runtime: 60 minutes
Tickets:The Cockpit Box Office
Camden Fringe Website
Instagram:
@playinthepocketCredits
Production Team
Producer: Sunny Jie Liu, Sheyang Diao
Technical Manager: Joey Haiting Zhou
Stage Manager: Jingwen Lu
Marketing Manager: Grace Yuxuan He
Lead Market Strategy Consultant: Wren H
Creative Team
Playwright / Director: Tatjana Yike Yao
Movement Director: Hui Chen
Voice Coach: Jun Yang
Cast
Augustina / Seraphine: Peiyi Zhong
Raven / Leah: Theresa Hongxuan He
Dorian: Yiqian Shao
Eli: Marian Lee
Rando: Shiwei Chen
Echo: Yi Hsin Wang
Policeman: Mingyu Ding
Music
Composer / Sound Artist: Anqi Deng
Actor-Musicians:
Anqi Deng (Guitar)
Chen Xu (Piano)
Mingyu Ding (Drum / Percussion)
Chzaza Ruojia Cao (Bass)
Sound
Sound Designers: Jiaye Wang, Mingyu Ding
Sound Engineer: Kane Crocker
Scenography
Scenographer: Joey Haiting Zhou
Collaborating Artist & Visual Artist: Iris Jingyi Zeng
Interactive Digital Artist: Zhengyang Li
Props Manager: Yifan Kang
Wearable Designer: Yifei Deng
Costume Designers / Makers: Jiaxin Fang, Xinyi Huang, Yingqi Hu
Wardrobe Supervisor: Yingqi Hu
Makeup Artist: Jiaxin Fang
Makeup Assistants: Yifan Kang, Iris Jingyi Zeng
Lighting
Lighting Designer: Joey Haiting Zhou
Lighting Operator: Heather Yuetong An
Documentation
Documentary Directors: Yini Wang, Yike Yao
