“It’s easy to fall into the lull of Gunawan and Parris’s voices… Their sensual, lilting words giving us almost a tangible sensation on our skin with every sentence. … There is a deliberateness to the language that helps construct the world they want to bring us into, and allows our imagination to run wild.”
-BakChorMeeBoy.com (for Stampin’ in the Graveyard)
Promised Land begins with a barren couple: two engineers who—unable to bear a child of flesh and blood—choose to conceive a piece of artificial intelligence named Rose. At the wake of an apocalypse, when all human life has been destroyed, all that remains is Rose sifting through the memories of her parents and the human life that was. Her lone voice is a requiem to the things we have destroyed as a human race, and a hopeful challenge to everyone about our legacy to those who come after us.
Based on our critically-acclaimed concept albums STAMPIN’ IN THE GRAVEYARD and DARLING, Promised Land received its 2nd work-in-progress performance on October 15, 2022 as part of Bloomsbury Festival.
Written by Elisabeth Gunawan and Matej Matejka
Directed by Matej Matejka
Performed by Elisabeth Gunawan and Orest Sharak
Music and Sound by and Orest Sharak and Jack Parris
Scenography by Mona Camille
We extend a special thanks to our partners Lighthouse Poole, Bloomsbury Festival and The Electric Dreams Online Festival who have helped us develop this piece.
View the online exhibition of drawings inspired by the piece
created by the artist Yi Wei Xu
PROMISED LAND (1st R&D performance) – Creation of the Mandala
Photographs by Bloomsbury Festival/Stuart Keegan
Holy Cross Church on Cromer St., London (2021)
Our Concept Albums
DARLING
STAMPIN’ IN THE GRAVEYARD
What Our Audiences Have Said
“Beautiful work … Expressing that which is so very hard to express: love in this terrible and beautiful time.”
-David Glass,TMA award-winning theatre director
“Magical, evocative, dripping with end-of-days melancholy … This is an aural feast of poetic magnitude.”
–Daniel York Loh, Actor/ Musician/Writer/Activist
“Beautiful poetry and soundscapes.”
–Paul Arditti, Olivier award-winning sound designer
“It made me think about moving to the U.S., the return visit, the kind of liminal aspect (like I was torn into two different people) that has existed ever since inside of me. Through feeling closer to you, I felt a bit closer to an internalised metacognitive (whatever term you want to use) side of me.”
(anonymous, New York)
“There was darkness, but the music brought light and hope. I felt like I was with you, presence and spirit. Unexpected tears rolled down my cheeks – an overwhelming unplanned spark of creative yearning. Thank you.”
(anonymous, Los Angeles)
elisabethgunawan.art 