There’s a glorious convoluted history that connects KLF co-founder and former Julian Cope manager Bill Drummond with the maverick theatre director and monologist Ken Campbell. They connected during Ken’s epic production of the cult Illuminatus trilogy, in the process creating some of the most memorable theatre of its day.
Illuminatus itself was co-written by Robert Anton Wilson, who had no intention of spawning a bunch of conspiracy-fixated readers, but some didn’t get that the books were among other things a work of satire. And hence Wilson inadvertently created a fashion for Illuminati-spotting that’s caught up everyone from Dan Brown to Beyonce in its wake. Which is a shame, as there was so much more to his work: he knew everyone from Tim Leary to William Burroughs, and has been celebrated as an influence by Alan Moore and Coldcut.
We’ll be celebrating all this and more with Daisy Campbell, who is bringing Wilson’s autobiography Cosmic Trigger to the stage. Joining her will be John Higgs, whose book The KLF: Chaos, Magic, And The Band Who Burned A Million Pounds is a treat. Nottingham’s impro comedy stars MissImp will be performing, and Adrian Reynolds will be doing a talk touching on madness, magic, mesmerism and medicine. The event will be presented by Anna Reynolds, who will also present a modern day fairy tale.
Cosmic Trigger, Saturday 17 May, 5pm, £5, The Corner. Profits will go to support Daisy’s forthcoming Kickstarter campaign.
*Note from the pen monkey who uploaded this article: It is LeftLion's 6660th article. The number of the beast? A weird coincidence? Ah, who cares I've gorra tonne more to put up.
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