In Jordan Connerty’s previous blog we heard how one of his main challenges as a writer of historical drama is the idea of an audience saying “No, you got that wrong”.
What better way then for DaDaFest to support his Tutankhamun-based project than by sending him to see the ‘boy king’s’ treasures up close, followed by a virtual reality experience of the famous tomb itself!
Read on for Jordan’s account of his research trip made possible through our Artist Development programme:
I went to London with my one of my best friends, Tomo, to go and see the exhibition at the Saatchi gallery called Tutankhamun treasures of the golden pharaoh. Honestly words can’t describe how excited I was to go see it because I have been so busy researching stuff about the Boy King and KV62 (that’s the official term Egyptologists use for his tomb), which was discovered on November 4th 1922 by Howard Carter.
Once we arrived at the gallery we entered and were introduced to a screen that explains about how Carter and Tutankhamun are linked forever and, quote:
“Howard Carter became one of the most famous Egyptologists/archaeologists in history and Tutankhamun became immortal, the most famous Pharaoh of all time.”
The first room we saw was of the wall paintings from his tomb and I explained what these walls meant. All the artefacts in the exhibit are just so well preserved and interesting and it was like following the pharaohs’ journey into the afterlife.
Then I saw one of my favourite artefacts in the exhibition which was a statue of Tutankhamun as a guard, guarding his own burial chamber! Each room shows his journey from his life to his tragic death and the ‘tut-mania’ after his tomb was discovered.
We then headed to the VR experience and I’ve got to say my heart was pounding when I felt the tomb’s presence as the VR started, looking around the annex, antechamber, treasury and the burial Chamber. When I looked into the mask of the king my heart pounded like it never pounded before and after we left the gallery I was speechless and posted on my twitter how I was just so amazed by the exhibition that I was just left in awe of the objects.
After we left the gallery we went on the river bus across the Thames and saw various landmarks like the Shard, Westminster where we got the bus from, Tower Bridge and The Tower of London. After that we went to see Tomo’s brother and had a recap about the day and we got to the station and headed home.
In conclusion I was just so happy and it made my love of Egypt grow ever more and I’m now in the process of looking for venues and a team to start this project and get it on its feet.
How can you help?
For the next six weeks I’m asking about ideas for my show Tutankhamun that will help me with venues, costume, writers, technical and directors. If you know anything about these I would appreciate your help. The plan is:
Week 1= venue
Week 2= costumes
Week 3= technical
Week 4= music
Week 5 = writers
Week 6 = directors
Your input would be appreciated because this will help me, and if you want to learn more DM me (@FazbearJordan) and also feel free to come along for a coffee break and chat about it.