Ten years ago, a festival director challenged performance company Stan's Cafe to adapt his favourite book, The Anatomy of Melancholy, for the stage, stating that they were the only company he could imagine pulling it off…
Led by Lancaster University alumnus James Yarker, the company brings its staging of “perhaps the world's most extraordinary self-help manual” to Live at LICA’s Nuffield Theatre at Lancaster University on November 19-20.
Written by vicar and librarian Robert Burton, the book contains all the wisdom of its age—arcane, outlandish and hilarious. Yet, amidst the wild stories and suppositions, much of its advice remains as profound now as it did then.
In the hands of Stan’s Café, Burton’s work has been used to create a performance that is entertaining, thought-provoking and often extremely funny. Using flipcharts, song, dance and mime, the key ideas from the book are presented by a four-piece ensemble.