Maria Teresa Creasey isn’t dead yet; she’s just forty. Sick and tired of people pretending she’s not there. Creasey is raising hell.
Degenerate is an experimental coming of age comedy from someone who has already come of age. Using physical comedy, storytelling, stand up and a killer soundtrack, Degenerate explores the connection between being a woman approaching midlife and the lure of the vampire: a rallying cry to anyone who’s felt othered, empowering them to own their narrative, laugh, dance and, most importantly, bite back. Starring California born, high profile voiceover artist Maria Teresa Creasey – soon to be seen on screen in Marvel’s latest project.
The project hopes to show that new and exciting doesn’t have to mean young and is the fourth the company has developed together. Degenerate is informed by performer Maria and director Rebecca’s experience of balancing the demands of juggling a creative career with parenting/caring responsibilities. Surveying the desolate landscape between desirability and death, Maria (“…feisty, animated and impassioned” ***** CultBox) exposes the invisibility of middle age.
Performer Maria Teresa Creasey said: “The media would have us believe that as soon as a woman hits 40 she disappears from public view, and yet here I am. Degenerate is a call to arms for all those reaching midlife to make a fuss, kick up a stink and take up space in a world which doesn’t want to see us or let us express ourselves authentically”
Director Rebecca Reeves said: “Degenerate is a creative response to an observation that the industry is not set up to accommodate midlife female creatives who are not already well-established, where creative risk-taking seems to be reserved for the young. The show reflects our desire to take a chance, to try something new – all in service of channelling the confidence and power of midlife, stepping out of the shadows that we feel middle age plunges women into.
“Degenerate blends stand up with experimental theatre practices, telling the story of one woman’s transformation from feeling overstretched and overworked to a celebratory empowerment of middle age, with a sprinkling of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. Think The Hungry Caterpillar meets David Lynch”.
