WHAT REMAINS
2011
GRID IRON
A solo theatre performance and installation based on a short story by Ben Harrison
DIRECTOR
Ben Harrison
ABOUT
The production examines the mind of Professor Gilbert K Prendergast — a disturbed concert pianist and serial killer, with a manic and obsessive relationship with his students and his beloved instrument. In his quest for absolute artistic perfection, the Maestro is driven to murder and to eventual insanity.
SOUNDTRACK INFO
Inspired by horror film soundtracks, my soundworld features a series of atmospheric piano pieces, haunting strings and the unsettling voices of unseen characters, including the sinister laughter of the ghosts of past students. The centre-pieces of the soundtrack and live performance are Concerto Perfectuo – a parody of the virtuosic piano concertos of the late 19th century and an operatic interpretation of Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground by Antony & The Johnsons.
PERFORMANCE HISTORY
What Remains was presented as a site-specific production at Edinburgh University Medical School Anatomy Dept, delivering over sixty sold-out performances during the Traverse Theatre's 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Programme.
AWARDS
Nominated for a Total Theatre Award 2011.
RELATED WORKS
Soundtracks for other Grid Iron productions include:
Muster Station: Leith (2022)
Jury Play (2017)
Barflies (2009)
The Devil’s Larder (2005)
Those Eyes, That Mouth (2003)
Collection of works from the theatre soundtrack to What Remains (2011), inspired by the horror film soundtrack genre. Includes a reimagining of the Antony & The Johnsons song Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground.
Written & Produced by David Paul Jones
Children’s Voice-overs by Adam & Caitlin Lawlor
© ℗ 2011 Blue Banyan Music
“extraordinary and beautiful musical compositions stay with us throughout the journey”
TOTAL THEATRE
“his latest piece from Grid Iron goes eyeball to eyeball with the horror genre and is lush with music to murder by. David Paul Jones gives a convincingly wild-eyed performance as the mad Maestro who plays the piano with feelings he doesn't offer his victims”
THE GUARDIAN
“What does remain, however, is the very considerable musicianship of David Paul Jones and his ability to hold an audience almost literally spellbound”
EDINBURGH GUIDE
“with great use of the medical school's eerie spaces, dark corridors and Gothic skeletons, combined with a chilling soundtrack, What Remains certainly stays with you”
FEST MAG
CREDITS
Based on a short story by Ben Harrison
Director: Ben Harrison
Composer & Sound Designer: David Paul Jones
Lighting Designer: Sergey Jakovsky
Set Designer: Ali Maclaurin
Performed by David Paul Jones
Images © Douglas Jones