Saturnalia redux

Last week the Saturnalia show performed in Peterhouse’s Deer Park. I was there to photograph this interactive theatre performance on Monday evening. Those of you who have been following this blog might remember my post about the promotion shot for Saturnalia. They tell the story about a drinking society evening gone horribly wrong.

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Some of the audience took full advantage of the interactive parts of the show, enjoying the services provided by the Saturnalia cast. Baskaran Sripathmanathan and Marcus Martin.
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Alex O’Bryan-Tear walked around serving shots to the audience. I wanted to emphasise their spreading of festivities by desaturating the surroundings so that the colour appears to emanate from the shot glasses.
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The cheating girlfriend gets into a fight with her boyfriend after coming back from a forest tryst with one of the audience members. I like the multiple layers of people in this shot and how they frame each other.
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The initiations to the Saturnian society begin: vodka served in a dog’s bowl. There were three stages of the initiation process, getting progressively more debauching.
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Nicola Wood performed on her portable pole. Here I was trying to capture her in the context of the people around her.

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It is not over for the initiated. Some of the actresses were playing their roles as caricatures, while others were more subtle, to the point where I wondered whether they were part of the cast or just audience. Here are Bonnie Mata Matthews and Sara Basso De Marc.
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Bonnie Mata Matthews tries out pole dancing.
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Feeding time for the servants of Saturn. Wendy Min Ji Choi pours Baskaran Sripathmanathan a drink.
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“Natasha, there is a journalist from the Tab here…”
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Theo McCausland, Natasha Cutler and Alex O’Bryan-Tear
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The end of an era, Natasha (Cutler) abdicates as president of the Saturnian society.
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The crowning of Saturn takes a dark turn as Ilana Walder-Biesanz gets crucified. David Payne, Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Heloise Ungless, Chris Cundy and Johanna Ohlman.
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The audience is given fruit to pelt the cast and volunteers alike.
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The entire Saturnalia cast. First we took a normal photo, then I asked them for a crazy shot. This was the normal one…
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A bit of spontaneous photographing after the show with Heloise Ungless and Wendy Min Ji Choi. I liked the look and feel of the veil, and the girls seemed to enjoy themselves. This photo needed a bit of post processing to bring out their faces behind the veil.
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I wanted to emphasise the lips by increasing the saturation, while desaturating the rest of the photo and darkening the surrounding parts. There is also a slight split tone to give the skin a bluish hue to increase the contrast with the red lips. Photo of Abi Palmer.
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I like the expression on Elizabeth Hunt’s face. The green background was distracting so I desaturated it.

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The Saturnians will be back…

– Johannes

 

Cast
Actor – Johanna Ohlman, Laura Gibson, Baskaran Sripathmanathan, Suchitra Seb, Elizabeth Hunt, Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Theo McCausland, Alex O’Bryan-Tear,Wendy Choi, Abi Palmer, James White, Sara Basse de Marc, Heloise Ungless

Production Team
Director – Laura Gibson
Producer – Alex O’Bryan-Tear
Photographer – Johannes Hjorth

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