Mad Monk's Masquerade - A New Year's Eve Eve Masked Ball

Join us in the faded grandeur of the Coronet Theatre for an evening of revelry to commemorate the grisly events that took place in Russia exactly 100 years ago, on the night of December 30th 1916: the murder of Rasputin.

Grigori Rasputin - wandering mystic, psychic healer, spiritual adviser to the Tsar and Russia’s greatest love machine - was rumoured to be a member of the Khlysti, an underground religious sect who reportedly indulged in flagellation and orgies. They believed that salvation was could only be attained through repentance, which meant the more you sinned the more you were able to repent.

It was Rasputin’s enthusiastic embracing of the first part of these teachings that led to him being poisoned, shot and have his body dumped in the Neva river by a group of nobles in one of the most notorious murders in history.

So come and indulge yourself in an evening of the drinking, dancing and debauchery with which the Road to Redemption is paved.

THE WINTER PALACE

Relive the decadent dying days of the Romanov dynasty where the weak-willed Tsar and his domineering wife the Tsarina are under the hypnotic thrall of the dissolute monk Rasputin. With the Great War raging and revolutionaries gathering on the streets outside join the beleaguered aristocracy as they party on the edge of oblivion.

Featuring...

Trans Siberian March Band - a panoramic music travelogue from Moscow to Vladivostok with our stomping eleven piece brass orchestra.

Buffo's Wake - a heady brew of death waltz, urban skank & gypsy punk.

Bishi - Anglo-Indian singer, pianist and sitarist will take to the decks to mix Eastern and Western avant-garde sounds.

THE FALLEN ANGELS CABARET

Come and attain salvation from the Rasputnitsi, the female adherents of Rasputin - peasant women, society ladies, whores and fallen novices - in the floor show that purifies as it degrades. With wantonness and lewd antics our performers will take your mortal sins onto their own souls, permitting you to depart in a state of primordial purity.

Among those sinning for their supper will be:

Rubyyy Jones - a force of nature: an all singing, all dancing, comedic shock Divaaa.

TeTe Bang - bad bitch of burlesque and angle grinder, striking sparks off metals and audiences alike.

Smashlyn Monroe - the Mephistopheles of masochism will unleash all torments of Eternal Damnation upon herself.

Dinah-Might - a burlesque bombshell who will bewitch you with innocence and seduction all in one.

Marnie Scarlet - deviant Diva, fire fetishist and couturier, writhing in her latest latex creation.

Thy Last Drop - Victorian murderpunks evoking the spirit of Jack the Ripper with songs of Bedlam, death and gravedigging.

Marcella Puppini - will vamp the vinyl with her blend of rockabilly, electroswing, R&B, garage and rock n' roll.

THE MONKS' CELL

Join MISTRESS BEATRIX and her apostate Sisters of Salvation in the Ark of the Khlysti. the mysterious abode of this secret Siberian gnostic sect. Baptism is by immersion in the waters of sinfulness and absolution comes through mortification of the flesh. At our blissful consummation you will spontaneously speak the language of Jerusalem as you dance yourself into a frenzy of spiritual ecstasy.

THE DEATH DRAWING ROOM

The Many Deaths of Rasputin with ART MACABRE.

What’s your poison? Take up your pen and sketch the final hours of the meddling monk as he is lured to the Yusupov Palace by a group of scheming patricians with the promise of the favours of the beautiful Princess Irina. Here he is drugged with cyanide-laced petits fours and dessert wine before being shot and drowned.

THE DRESS CODE: Monks, nuns, novices, priests, heretics, holy fools, hussars, boyars, whores, black tie, ball gown, frock coat, imperial finery, or anything else that you fancy really. Masks obligatory.

* Footnotes

In 1916 Imperial Russia was still using the Julian Calendar, which was by then lagging 13 days behind the Gregorian Calendar in use by the rest of Europe, so Rasputin’s murder took place on December 17th (Old Style). But we’re holding our New Year’s Eve party on December 30th, so who are we to criticise?

The Coronet theatre had been set, like Rasputin, to meet its end on December 30th, but has now been granted a whole year’s stay of execution from the developers. So we’ll see you there again in 2017.

The Mad Monk's Masquerade will feature a wondrous cast of London's most eerie, exotic and eccentric performers. Visit http://www.acuriousinvitation.com for an up to date performer list.