The Tiger Lillies, in conjunction with theatre directors Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott, created the ‘junk opera’ Shockheaded Peter. Based on the gruesome morality fables of Heinrich Hoffman it was one of most innovative pieces of music-theatre in the past decade. For their new work, The Gorey End, the trio have turned to the work of the American writer, illustrator and theatre designer Edward Gorey.S

hortly before his death in 2000, Gorey approached the group with the idea of collaborating on a new stage work and sent them a carton full of unpublished poems and stories. Those familiar with Gorey’s style will not be surprised by the subject matter, with the threat of disaster, corruption and death lurking in the most banal domestic situations. A child is trapped in an attic, inhabited by bats (‘Weeping chandelier’). A ballet dancer has ground glass put in her slippers by a jealous rival (‘Histoire de Kay’). Young men die of gin, girls are seduced into prostitution by just an ice-cream, a whole family is wiped out by a year of misfortunes.

The lead singer of the Tiger Lillies, Martyn Jacques, is also their regular librettist and composer. His music draws on influences culled from vaudeville, central-European folk dance, with a hint of the blues and chanson. It can be seductive or infuriating, depending on the mood – or the company – one is in. Jacques sings in a robust falsetto, sometimes verging on a scream. He also plays piano, organ, accordion and ukulele. The percussionist, Adrian Huge, never to be forgotten once you’ve seen him – sometimes lighting fireworks as he plays – provides infectious rhythms in the upbeat numbers such as ‘Gin’ and ‘Hertha Strubb’. Adrian Stout’s musical saw, double bass and horn, add a commentary that underlines the anarchic irony in Gorey’s words.

The presence of the Kronos Quartet in nine of the 13 songs has the effect of softening some of the familiar effects in the Tiger Lillies’ style. In particular, ‘Trampled Lilly’, the longest song, has a mournful counter-melody that complements the funereal story (‘Under the influence of a lecture from a passing senator she decided to reform / She was placed in a back bedroom with bars like a prison dorm’). The stage work that Gorey had in mind was never achieved, as he died before Jacques had an opportunity to play the first songs to him, but this grotesque song cycle may find its mark with devotees of the Tiger Lillies and Gorey-ites alike.