Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me)

There is a possibility that God made everything because he was terrified of doing nothing.

Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) (2015) is a re-telling of the story of the beginning of everything inspired by Milton’s epic poem – told through words, music and the easily misunderstood medium of dance.

A show for anyone who has ever created anything (a child, a garden, a paper aeroplane) and then had to watch that wonderful thing spiral out of control.

Age guidance: 13+
Content warnings: some occasional use of swearing and adult themes.
Approx. running time: 75 minutes

Forthcoming Performances

Creative Team

 Partners

Written, directed and performed by Ben Duke
Lighting & Set Design by Jackie Shemesh
Artistic Collaborator: Raquel Meseguer Zafe
Production Manager: David Sherman
Executive Producer: Daisy Drury
Producer: Emma Evelyn
Marketing Consultant: Beryl Dzambo

Supported by Arts Council England using public funding from the National Lottery. Originally created in 2015. Co-commissioned by The Place and Battersea Arts Centre with further commissioning support from The Point, Eastleigh and South East Dance.

With thanks to Tess Howell, Emily Gorrod-Smith and Hattie Gregory

Images by Zoe Sanders

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Access Performances:

Performances of Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me) include British Sign Language interpreted performances, Relaxed Environment Performances and Captioned performances.

Paradise Lost's Access Page
Paradise Lost's Access Page

 In the Press

Featured
Seeing Dance

Paradise Lost is a work that leaves you stunned. It rattles along at a reckless pace, seeming to have no direction then hits the target with blinding accuracy. Afifi manages to slip betwixt and between the characters, juggling the humour and the deadly serious with great dexterity in a performance that, despite its low-key wrapping, is a tour de force.

London Theatre

There’s much to think about in this intense and intriguing performance.

****

The Independent

“The comedy is divine, but the images of love and loss are achingly human.” *****

The Observer

“As everything begins to go terribly, cosmically wrong, we realise that while the fictional Duke has been playing the fool, the real Duke has executed a deft conjuring trick, presenting us in words and movement of increasing darkness with the essence of Milton’s poem.”

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