Simple8

Franzis Gruber, a lowly bureaucrat, lives a neat and ordered life in a sleepy, provincial German town. When a travelling fair arrives, full of clowns, freaks, magicians and sleepwalkers, it drags Franzis into a series of nightmarish murders – spinning dreams into reality, the imagined into truth and order into chaos.

Torn from the silver screen, simple8 brings one of the darkest and most influential films of all time spinning onto the stage in this fast and frenzied fairground sideshow performance. A box office smash on its 1920 cinematic release, silent horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari has come to define cinematic expressionism and inspire film noir.

Rather than re-creating The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, simple8 have instead transmuted the original material – as eight actors create the swirl of life, bureaucracy, showmanship, murder, love and insanity that drag Franzis Gruber into a fast, frenetic fairground attraction.