Ceremony of Innocence is a spellbinding electronic theatre of the imagination, starring Paul McGann, Isabella Rossellini, and Ben Kingsley. The German version stars Ben Becker, Katja Riemann and Otto Sander. Within an enchanting interactive environment created by a world class team of animators, multimedia artists, musicians and programmers, Ceremony of Innocence conjures up the mystical story of Griffin and Sabine - a young English artist and his sphinx-like South Sea Island muse. As the layers of the tale are peeled back, there unfolds, through Griffin and Sabine's extraordinary letters and postcards, first a love story, then an enigma and finally a trail to the heart of the truth.
The production took an international team of over 100 people, led by Producer Gerrie Villon and Creative Director Alex Mayhew, almost three years to make and is based on Nick Bantock's Griffin and Sabine trilogy - a series of innovative art-based novels that took the publishing world by storm.
Letters
New imagery was created to accompany the spoken text of the letters. The emotions that lie between their lines are brought to the surface through atmospheric film sequences designed and directed by multimedia artists Brian Short and Karolyn Pike. Literal interpretations were felt to be inappropriate and in their place the artists created a series of richly textured, free-flowing sequences of suggestive imagery. Between them Karolyn and Brian created a full-length movie's worth of original material.
Postcards
Each of the postcards that Griffin and Sabine send to each other convey their feelings in two ways. The text that they write contains the concepts they consciously wish to communicate, while the images they create for the other side of the postcards are loaded with the powerful symbolism of their subconscious emotions. The challenge for Alex Mayhew, Creative Director, was to expand this visual narrative to interact meaningfully with the viewer. Alex worked closely with Nick Bantock (who created the original imagery of the postcards), multimedia artist Dan Blore, and a team of animation artists to achieve this. The sense of humour which Alex and Nick evolved whilst discussing ideas, was incorporated into some of the delightful visual mechanisms that release the text of the postcards and letters.
Characters
Griffin Moss
Griffin is a classic English neurotic - a complex mesh of contradictions, desperately trying to keep emotions out of his voice, while subconsciously crying out for attention. His moods continually struggle within him. He tries to laugh at his tension, but ends up tensing at the sound of his laughter. He is either suffering from powerful delusions or has come into contact with a mysterious being that he cannot rationally explain.
Sabine Strohem
Sabine is the adopted daughter of a well-travelled European and has grown up on the South Sea island where she was found as a baby, possibly having been thrown from a crashing aeroplane. Her accent is just beyond the point of recognition - distinctive, yet hard to place, reflecting both her uncertain origins and the illusiveness of her personality. She is mysterious and can be frightening, yet she also has the gentle, sultry appeal of a muse.
Victor Frolatti is a sinister charmer, as smooth as a snake. He oozes false sincerity and genuine malice with every word. His presence in Sabine's home is deeply disturbing to both Griffin and Sabine, yet he is also the catalyst that cements their alchemical union. His accent could be from almost anywhere, but English is not his first language, as his sycophantic veneer of formality is not that of a native speaker. Ben Kingsley plays Frolatti in both the English and German versions.
Frank Dune
Gerrie Villon contacted West-End actor Frank Dunne - an authority on Yeats - while trying to track down an original recording of W.B. Yeats reading his poem, The Second Coming. His suggestions led to the discovery that The Second Coming was one of a number of Yeats' recordings that had been destroyed by fire. During these conversations, Gerrie realised that Frank Dunne's rich voice and gentle Irish accent, were a perfect substitute for the poet himself. It transpired that Frank had often performed Yeats' poems for Irish radio broadcasts and he was delighted to read the poem for Ceremony of Innocence.
