7 March 2023
The Full Moon Theatre laboratory in Hooke Park has happened over the course of four days on the 4th (Saturday), 5th (Sunday), 6th (Monday) and 7th (Tuesday) of March 2023, with the last course night being a Full Moon night (Worm Moon - moon culmination around midnight).
The laboratory has been realised as a Visiting School of the Architectural Association School of Architecture, with the support of the Arup Phase 2 programme.
The intention of the Full Moon Theatre Visiting School has been to realise the following:
- Incorporate, develop and build on existing research to design and construct a site-specific open air Full Moon Theatre, equipped with locally digitally fabricated moonlight reflectors.
- Stage a test performance rehearsal that has been fully illuminated by the light of the moon, without using electricity. The wider Hooke Park student community has been invited to participate and witness the performance rehearsal.
- Create an online “Full Moon Library” which includes all the tools, documentation and techniques developed during the workshop that anyone could use to stage a Full Moon Theatre performance anywhere in the world in the future.
Following the example of Peter Rice, Humbert Camerlo and their visionary team, we have demonstrated that it is possible to create with economy of means, to be sensitive to the local context and constraints. We have produced everything directly on site, like they did in Gourgoubès, rather than in factories with industrial methods. But this time, we have combined manual techniques with the new tools of digital fabrication and simulation.
In doing so we have taken the original concept one step further, bringing new experimentation and innovation to the processes and making the knowledge base available for future use.
