Ben Harrison

The Devil’s Larder

June-August 2005

City Morgue, Cork and Debenhams, Edinburgh

Ashes to Ashes, The Devil’s Larder

" You can’t eat grief. It’s far too strong and indigestible. . .you have to let the sorrow swallow you. "

An adaptation by Ben Harrison of seventeen of Jim Crace’s bewitching, tender and sometimes malign stories linked by the theme of food and its revelatory impact on human society. The piece was staged by a company of four actors and two musicians, firstly in the former City Morgue, Veterinary Department and Weights and Measures Building in Cork, a commission from Cork 2005: Capital of Culture, and re-imagined and re-staged in Debenhams department store on Princes Street in Edinburgh.

Curry no.3, The Devil’s Larder

" We mean, at last, to cross the barriers of taste."

These two radically different sites took the production in various different and contrasting ways, with the dark poetry being more emphasised in Cork and the outrageous mockery of the text being more revealed amongst the cookwares and bridal department of Debenhams. The piece won four awards, including the Carol Tambor award which supports a transfer to New York.