The Pandamonium Parade

The Pandamonium Parade is a past project, now archived on the rusty, groaning shelves in the Library of Dust…

“Our revels now are ended. Our contraptions dissipated into rusty treasure, the baseless fabric of our vision dissolved and the insubstantial pageant faded. Made of such stuff as dreams, our little parade is rounded with a sleep”

The Pandamonium Parade is a processional show for town & street combining eccentric human powered vehicles and kinetic contraptions, live music, sound and performers. The parade is a moveable feast, a whirl wind from a British dreamtime and comes in a variety of sizes to fill the street with beasts, sounds and performers; a highly energetic, animated procession that reaches out to draw the audience into it’s chaotic and charming world.

Rag & Bone – The Pandemonium Parade (Spare Parts Festival, Fleetwood – July 2015) from Rag and Bone on Vimeo.

The Parade can consist of any or all of these elements:

• The Boneshaker – a large, cycle powered vessel for performer or musician, with PA
• Leviathan – a large puppet sea monster head mounted on the boom of an 8ton excavator
• Tongues of Fire – an 8-10 piece band of brass and percussion
• A live soundtrack from Tim Hill and other musicians on e.g. Saxophone, loop pedal & samples.
• The Hurly Burly – a mechanical amusement, mobile sound sculpture and noise maker with a battery of old horns, bells, alarms and whistles.
• Various towers, platforms & wheeled devices for performers & musicians
• The Beast – a pesky dragon – who can’t resist playing with the audience
• The Carousel – a cycle powered whirling carousel
• The Hobby Horse – a tricycle mounted puppet horse head with blinking eyes and twitching ears
• The Bath Boat –  a domestic sailing vessel
• Performers & characters – including Captain Strange and his crew of mudlarks, bone grubbers and scavenger poets.
• Various effects and pyrotechnics such as trails of coloured smoke, bubbles, smoke machines, confetti, whistles and firecrackers.

Video from Left Coast here of the 2014 Spare Parts Festival – includes lots of footage of the Pandamonium Parade and the volunteers who made it happen.