Metamorphic Ritual Theatre - the travelling pagan theatre company

I was first introduced to this group when I came across the above image several months ago, and then found their website and strangely enough (I rarely say this) I found it somehow confronting.  That's really saying something!  I'm fascinated to see more of what they do and 'become a part of their ritual' by attending one of their performances which tell stories of the Old Religion - yet even as a Pagan, even I harbour some strange fear from them - attraction and repulsion at its best!

Watching their video I'm reminded of my favourite movie Interview with the Vampire and the French vampires who have their Théâtre des Vampires

Louie: "They're vampires pretending to be humans, pretending to be vampires."

Claudia: "How avant garde!"

The above image depicts a Chakra piercing/ quantum qabbala rituals, aligning the Chakras, as the main system of the East, with the Tree of Life/Qabbala, the main esoteric tradition of the West, and incorporating elements of other ancient cultures in a post-modern context of Chaos Magick involving Horus, Maat and Pan Currents of magick. This featured in the 1998 Melbourne Fringe Festival.

Metamorphic Ritual Theatre aims to find a medium between ritual and theatre, ie. public rather than private magickal rites which are a combination of pre-meditated/rehearsed and indeterminate spontaneous elements. We take 'theatre' beyond its usual bounds of 'pretending' into the realm of Becoming. We don't just act our characters, we Invoke them or related deities and/or archetypes.

I certainly hope that they get as much of an audience as they would like, as I can imagine that many people would find this kind of religious performance very intense and confronting!  From May-June they're in Europe, and from July to September they're in the USA so I've asked when they will be in Melbourne next and will post if anything is happening.

It has to be said: the costumes are something else.

All information via
Metamorphic Ritual Theatre