Homunculus Theatre Company
Homunculus Theatre Company is a figment of the imagination that materializes, from time to time, to bring strange visions into the theatre at an intimate scale. Here you will find a blend of physical and visual theatre, music, puppetry, story telling – and explosive chemistry. Homunculus is about engaging all the senses, about the potential of theatre to create magic, to delight and astound.
Formed in 1998, Homunculus is coordinated by Philip Ball, who has trained in physical theatre, mask, clown and other dramatic techniques.
Productions
2008: Homunculus was awarded a grant from the Wellcome Trust to develop and stage a new show about Paracelsus in collaboration with Shifting Sands Theatre Company, directed by Gerry Flanagan. Philip Ball acted as an adviser to develop a text with Gerry and his company. The play went on a national tour in Spring 2009.
“The Sun and Moon Corrupted” A play about the passionate pursuit of wrong ideas. This play, written in 2001, was developed into a novel: see Books.
“Triptych” Performed at the White Bear Theatre, Kennington, London, in September 1998.
“Misappropriation” In collaboration with Critical State Company, performed as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival 1999.
“Paracelsus the Great” Performed at the White Bear Theatre, Kennington, London, March 2000, and on 30 September and 1 October at the V&A Museum, South Kensington, London. The latter performance was part of the Creating Sparks Festival of Science and Art that ran throughout September 2000. Using monologue, narration, music and puppetry, this play tells the story of the legendary sixteenth-century alchemist and physician Paracelsus, who bridges the mysticism of the Middle Ages and the rationalism of the Enlightenment. Against the backdrop of Luther’s Reformation, which brings conflict and war to Christendom, Paracelsus wanders through Europe and Asia Minor like a vagabond, berating apothecaries and scholars, rewriting the book of medicine, falling in and out of miraculous adventures, and quenching his sorrows at many a roadside inn.