Everybody Loses
The Death Diary of Karl Patterson Schmidt
by Doppelgangster
EVERYBODY LOSES is a performance of a death by snake bite. In this one man show Doppelgangster’s Dr Tom Payne informs his audience that phone signals have been blocked, the doors locked, he’s shooting up venom, and nobody is leaving until he knows what it is to die.
is a performance of a death by snake bite. In this one man show Doppelgangster’s Dr Tom Payne informs his audience that phone signals have been blocked, the doors locked, he’s shooting up venom, and nobody is leaving until he knows what it is to die.
Drawing on the true, self-documented death of world famous herpetologist Dr Karl Patterson Schmidt, historical accounts of the religious ritual of Snake Handling, Doppelgangster’s own personally documented accounts of self-poisoning, reptilian myths of genesis and the coming apocalypse, EVERYBODY LOSES interrogates societal obsessions with eternal youth, eternal life, and the destruction of our planet.
Presentation and performance styles evoke and appropriate 1950s scientific lectures, death diaries, suicide notes, Southern-style snake handling, and the warnings of that one scientist at the start of every disaster film ever. EVERYBODY LOSES is both a glorious spectacle and a grave work; obliquely engaging with themes of climate change and the 6th great extinction; asking, with the unprecedented scientific documentation of the changing planet, and our failure to respond to the symptoms, is it too late to stop the poison?
WARNING
A death.
DURATION
70 Minutes, give or take a heartbeat
Reviews
“Original and unquestionably effective…gripping and intelligent”
– Mark Whitehead, Placing the Anthropocene
“This, this was Sci-Art: Now everyone else needs to up their game.”
– Erin Kavanagh, A ‘Modern’ Antiquarian
“Impeccably detailed… flawless performance”
– Ceredigion Herald
Talent
Performance DR TOM PAYNE
Writing + Direction TOBIAS MANDERSON GALVIN +
DR TOM PAYNE
Music MARIA MOLES and ADAM HALLIWELL
Videography DR SAM CHRISTIE
Scenographic Design TOBIAS & TOM
Photography WILSON LIEW
A DOPPELGANGSTER production.
With Thanks to all the staff at ABERYSTWYTH ARTS CENTRE.
Partners
Everybody Loses: The Death Diary of Karl Patterson Schmidt
is an original production by Doppelgangster
in association with Aberystwyth Arts Centre,
SHU Performance, and MKA Theatre of New Writing
Acknowledgements
Booking
& Dates
ON TOUR
THE PROJECTOR (Singapore)
8 September 2018
BACKBONE ARTS (Brisbane)
10 September 2018
MKA POP-UP THEATRE (Melbourne)
12-16 September 2018
KXT / SYDNEY FRINGE (Sydney)
18-22 September 2018
APPARAT ATHEN (Athens)
31 September 2018
PREVIOUS
23 Nov 2017
Aberystwyth Arts Centre
Aberystwyth
2 Feb 2018
La Générale Nord-Est
Paris
28 Feb-1 Mar 2018
Waterloo Vaults
London
3 Mar 2018
SHU Performance Lab
Sheffield
4 Apr 2018
Tom Thumb Theatre
Margate
6 Jul 2018
Alcalá de Henares
Madrid