Charabanc

A site specific outdoor performance in Epping Forest, July 2002

At one time throughout Epping Forest you saw abandoned cars, some burnt out in ditches, others left by the roadside. In time, they become skeletons of their former selves.

In Charabanc, five cars became individual worlds - the picnic, the wedding bed, the angel car, the racing demon and the skeleton car. As dusk fell, performers appeared from under the cars and out of windows. Angels watched over children trying to escape from a locked car…

The cars are containers for the personal stories of local people, analogies for the impact of the car on our lives. Charabanc contrasts the beauty of these dream-like vehicles with their potential to do harm.

Charabanc took place over two weekends in two different locations – on the edges of Epping Forest and a disused airfield in Matching Green – and in two different formats – as a performance and an installation.