As soon as you hear the premise of the underground 60s novel Principia Discordia, you’ll want to track down a copy and devour it — Hannah Fox and her collaborators certainly did. The text acts a sort of guide to the fringe religion Discordianism, which encourages the worship of the goddess of chaos. After reading through the book cover to cover, Hannah began to plot a performance with seven collaborators parodying the religion, but it soon become something much more serious.
The eight performers became increasingly involved in the project — a live performance titled Discordia — and grew convinced of Discordianism’s relevance to the modern world. Now they’re trying to officially register it as a religion, with the intention of officiating weddings and funerals. There’s talk Lee Lin Chin may narrate Discordia, and guests will enter through a giant vagina. Over the phone, we asked Hannah Fox to navigate the labyrinth of meaning behind the performance.
Hi Hannah, your new show sounds wild.
We’re equally excited and terrified at this point. The show involves the audience moving through different spaces so it will be quite unpredictable. It’s responsive to the Arts Centre space. We’re currently getting our heads around all the possible scenarios. It’s quite a mind-fuck.
Talk to me about where the idea for Discordia began versus where it wound up.
Discordia started as a parody religion in the 60s based on the book Principia Discordia by Greg Hill and Kerry Wendell Thornley. The basic premise of this religion is that it’s an anti-religion. Their idea was that the most reliable thing in the universe is utter chaos and succumbing to it can bring this real sense of humour and freedom amongst a kind of maelstrom. We wanted to make something hopeful, without it being too saccharine. When we really delved into it, some of the principals of Discordianism really resonated! Next thing we knew we were recruiting. We’re actually trying to officially register our own religion and there’s this whole legal process happening alongside the actual show.
And what’s this I’ve heard about Lee Lin Chin?
Ha! The show, it’s really driven by the music, and of course the narration by Lee Lin. It’s not like you’re walking through the spaces and being performed at, it’s much more led by the individual. We’re trying to bring this unstructured form into this highly controlled environment so rather than building a cathedral or a church, we’ve created a placenta out of space blankets. And rather than going through through a door, you enter through a vagina.
Memorable. Who else are you working with on the piece?
Marc Mitchell is the composer who’s written the score, he’s made every single sound out of something natural and turned it into a kind of instrument, which is incredible. Then there’s Will and Garrett Huxley who are famous costume designers, James Andrews, Gabi Bartonm, Holly Durant, Benjamin Hancock, Antony Hamilton, Gideon Obarzanek and Simone Page Jones who’s an incredible opera singer. It’s been a real joy to work on.
I have to ask, is this a sort of absurd, satirical piece, or are you being quite sincere?
I think the absurdity is mainly in how it looks, the content is actually quite serious. It’ll be like saying wedding vows in a clown outfit: objectively funny, but what you’re saying is not necessarily something to laugh about. The message of the show is really about being flexible in the way you approach your own reality. One of the major things we’re tackling with the show is the notion of fate. Most people I’m in contact with are not religious, but fate is still very much embedded in their way of thinking. Saying things like, “it wasn’t meant to be.” Those ideas are really deep in our psyche and we’re trying to challenge that idea. We strongly reject the concept of fate.
Discordia is running from the 27th of September to the 1st of October at the Fairfax Studio in Melbourne.