Taylor Mac|24 decade history of popular music (Barbican Centre, 2018)

Fabulous and fearless, 2017 MacArthur "Genius" Grant recipient Taylor Mac reframes the social history of America through three decades of song in this no-holds-barred extravaganza of music, art, activism and hugely entertaining mass ritual. Joined onstage by a 22-piece orchestra and host of local special guests, New York’s Mac has created a Pulitzer Prize-nominated, once-in-a-lifetime, immersive performance in a quest to chronicle how communities grow stronger as they are being torn apart. Charting the years 1776–1806, Mac asks the audience to conspire in the reimagining of rebellions, revolutions, triumphs and tragedies. Bawdy pub songs, sea shanties and subversive anthems are rearranged as musical mash-ups to take on a chapter of the defining early years of America’s history. During this performance, as part of LIFT 2018 at the Barbican Theatre in London, I was engaged in the role of “Dandy Minion” - i.e. a kind of facilitator of audience participation, engagement, interaction etc. - and constructed various costumes to wear throughout, in response to each corresponding decade. My involvement in 24 Decade was as a Dandy Minion i.e. facilitator of audience participation and performer of “random acts of fabulousness” throughout the show. This included self-designed and constructed costume and make up.

Conception and Co-Direction: Taylor Mac

Musical Direction and Arranger: Matt Ray

Co-Direction: Niegel Smith

Costumes: Machine Dazzle

Lighting: John Torres

Dramaturgy: Jocelyn Clarke

Produced by Pomegranate Arts and Nature’s Darlings. This engagement was supported by Mid Atlantic Art Foundation through USArtists International in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Howard Gilman Foundation. 

Praise for Taylor Mac’s 24 decade history of popular music:

★★★★★ “one of the greatest experiences of my life” - The New York Times

★★★★★ “explosive, spectacular, heartbreaking” - The Guardian

★★★★★ “we were delirious and smitten, sundered and remade […] an unutterably brilliant masterwork.” - Sydney Morning Herald