The gentle souls of The Laudanum Project are on their way to the 2017 Adelaide Fringe Festival to unveil their most ominous and complex work to date, 'The Baby Farmer'. Never content with treading the path most traveled, The Laudanum Project have devised 'The Baby' Farmer as a multifaceted, unholy trinity that consists of a one act play, an illustrated book and an accompanying exhibition.

The Play

Set against the backdrop of London's East End during the 1870's, this one act play explores the isolation and spiraling madness that surrounds 6 year old Agatha May and her mentally ill mother Winnifred Alcorn. Amidst an ever growing nightmare of premonitions, omens and visitations Agatha and Winnifred's darkened world slowly begins to unravel when a shadowy stranger with a sinister agenda appears on the streets of Whitechapel and initiates a terrifying game of cat and mouse that will leave both mother and daughter changed forever. As narrator Alphonse Cheese-Probert (Nick Ravenswood) pores over the lugubrious minutiae of Agatha and Winnifred’s tragic tale, the plaintive yet powerful soundtrack created by Captain Enoch Malleus (Gareth Skinner) forms an ever shifting musical tapestry that envelopes the entire story from beginning to end. With 'The Baby Farmer', The Laudanum Project have conjured up a somber meditation on destiny, lost innocence and the nature of evil that blurs the lines between dreams and reality, and whispers to the madness that hides within all of us.

The Book

For The Baby Farmer book artist Chloe Neath has meticulously created over 25 breathtaking illustrations that beautifully portray Agatha and Winnifred’s gloomy realm. From astonishingly detailed panoramas of London’s East End, to skin crawlingly intimate portraits of the characters, Chloe has captured the very essence of The Baby Farmer story in all of its jolting extremes. With full text from the play and an exquisite layout by designer Matthew Revert, The Baby Farmer illustrated book not only serves as a unique extension of the play but stands alone as a stunningly dark and beautiful volume in its own right. The Baby Farmer is published by Cohesion Press and is available for purchase at each performance and through Amazon.

The Exhibition                  

                                                                                 Alongside the unsettling performance, Victorian artist Chloe Neath’s exquisite artwork from the book will be exhibited. There will be four key illustrations on display, each piece intricately detailed charcoal on brown paper, each piece both disturbing and beautiful, each piece for sale, along with signed copies of the published work.