The Flannigan Affair

Premiered at HIVE2 in 2008, Centre for Digital Media, Vancouver. Presented by Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

This performance installation about the unreliability of the narrative voice was performed in a long, vertiginous corridor inside an East Vancouver warehouse. A kind of companion piece to At Home with Dick and Jane, central tension is again drawn between portraits of the ‘simple life’ and the inherent distortions of obsessive self-reference. The story of Mr. and Mrs. Flannigan is told in two lines:  “Mr. Flannigan is blind, Mrs. Flannigan is lame. They are old, they are happy, they have each other.“ In this concise description, we find both domestic and narrative bliss. But when a wanted felon signs on as the Flannigans' narrator, their affairs become increasingly difficult to bring into order.  The once happy couple age rapidly, become afflicted and during a wild night of debauchery at a dadaist cabaret called The Cadaver, the Narrator loses all trace of the Flannigans and becomes subject to his own narration. The Flannigan Affair experiments with a miniature replica, extending the stage into infinite variations of itself; a sensual staging evokes the language and logic of dream.

 

The Flannigan Affair was popular enough with crowds to cause at least one fight over the flag needed to hold a place in line. Once inside, an exclusive audience of twelve partygoers experience the dizzying visual ecstacy unfold down the long, narrow corridor. At fifteen minutes in length, the show is a playfully surrealistic text about the unreliability of the narrative voice. In 2008 it was shared by a cast of six, ten times per night over the course of HIVE at the Magnetic North theatre festival – 100 performances in total.

 

More than just a performance, HIVE is a venue for artists to discuss creation techniques, share resources, and fuel each other's passion for their work. In the spirit of inclusion, we approached our 2008 HIVE installation as an opportunity to assemble a team of artists new to Electric Company.

 

By Jonathon Young and created with Kim Collier

Originally produced by Electric Company

Directed by Kim Collier

Featuring Meghan Gardiner, Julia Mackey, Nathan Medd, Todd Thomson, Julia Mackey, Michael Scholar Jr, and Jonathon Young.

Stage Managed by Jennifer Swan

Lighting Design:  Kyla Gardiner

Sets and Props:  Naomi Sider

Video and Sound:  David Hudgins

 

In terms of cast size and production values [at HIVE], The Flannigan Affair is the most ambitious and polished. It’s one of the best shows and one of the hardest to get into.”

– Georgia Straight

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Todd Thomson, Jonathon Young, Meghan Gardiner, Nathan Medd, Julia Mackey, and Michael Scholar, Jr in Electric Company's The Flannigan Affair

Tech Specs:

Touring company: 4 (2 creative, 1 technical director, 1 stage manager). 5 local actors hired in host location.
Minimum floor space required: 17'X45'. Minimum room height required: 12'.
Blackouts must be possible in performing space.
Minimum set-up time in space: 1 weeklong residency including rehearsal time with the local cast.
Producer provides production materials (set, costumes, props, technical equipment).
Presenter provides 1 technician for 20 hours of set-up, and 1 usher during all performances (can be volunteer). The technician is no longer required to run the show after the set-up is complete, but on-call technical support is required for venue issues that may arise from time to time.
Power requirements: The Flannigan Affair requires sufficient power for 1 projector, 1 DVD player, 1 iMac computer, 1 lighting console with monitor, 14 MR-16 halogen lights, 1 audiofire sound mixer, and 2 powered PA speakers. All units operate on standard 110 v cabling.
Running time: 13 minutes
Audience Capacity: At least 130/day over 3 hours of performance (13 per run, 10 runs per day). An increase to capacity may be possible but would require a redesign of the audience configuration.