The Special Guests are about to start working on a new show, called Something Got a Hold of Me.  We’re going to be rehearsing for the next three weeks and then showing the piece to an invited audience in Bristol.

We’re also trying a new way of working. Our work has always been devised collaboratively and democratically, which means we often ended up with long, long discussions over tiny quibbles with what we were making, and the work sometimes, not always, but sometimes suffered because of that. It meant that we ended up with a lack of clarity over what we were trying to say, to achieve with each piece. So when we wrapped up Nightfall, our most ambitious and longest project to date, we realised we needed to make some changes.

So this new show, the first (and possibly only – we’re going to see where we end up) incarnation of which we’re making this October, is going to be led for the first time by an outside eye, a director, a leader, whatever you want to call it. We’re hoping that this will bring a clarity to the work and enable us to make work faster and more efficiently.

So anyway, we spent last week exploring some ideas associated with religious cults. We’re interested in power, the mis-use of power and charisma and the reasons why people become drawn in to these often tragic social orders. We’re also interested in society’s reaction and means of dealing with cults and how that complicates our idea of being free. We’ve been especially interested in Waco and Jonestown as two differing examples of how cults work.

We start rehearsals proper in the next couple of weeks and will be showing the results of our work on Friday 17 October at Bristol Old Vic. If you would like to attend, drop an email to matthew@thespecialguests.co.uk and we’ll add you to the list.

We’ll also be using the showing as a mini-fundraiser for the company, so do bring along any spare change. Any donations gratefully received.

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The Special Guests
Something Got a Hold of Me
“It’s all right, I’ll watch it on TV”

Something Got a Hold of Me is a performance about religious cults, charismatic leaders, power, persuasion, weakness and how everyone is really just looking for something, a little something to make them happy. Let The Special Guests become masters of your destiny.

The Special Guests are Arnolfini Associate Artists and members of residence.org.uk