Emily Wardill: Game Keepers Without Game

The Showroom presents the London premiere of British artist Emily Wardill’s new work, Game Keepers Without Game, a powerful feature length film based on Life is a Dream (La Vida es Sueño) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. The exhibition will also stage the development of Wardill’s new film, Fulll Firearms.

Game Keepers Without Game
The film translates the 17th century play by Calderón de la Barca into contemporary London; it tells the story of a girl put up for adoption by her family at a young age. When the girl is a teenager her father engineers a way for her to return to the family home, but her destructive response to the objects and people within leads to her being forcibly removed and having to strategise her way back into housing.

Set to a drumming soundtrack which highlights the spatial construction of the narrative, the film has a stark yet glossy aesthetic – the characters and objects are presented as if they are airline food, with no person or object touching another.

Fulll Firearms
The script for a new film will be developed during workshops staged by the artist and The Showroom. A group of actors will work collaboratively to create scenes through improvisation, acting, writing and editing. The developing film will be shown at a special preview on 13 March, 6–8pm. The screening will be followed by an open discussion which will provide an opportunity to respond to the work. Fulll Firearms is also on display at Art Sheffield 2010.