Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------- It Felt Like A Kiss is an olfactory-audiovisual promenade-style theatre production, first performed between 2nd and 19th July 2009 as part of the second Manchester International Festival, co-produced with the BBC[1]. Themed on "how power really works in the world"[2], it is a collaboration between film-maker Adam Curtis and the Punchdrunk theatre company, with original music composed by Damon Albarn and performed by the Kronos Quartet. The visitor is immersed in sets based on archive footage from Bagdad, 1963; New York, 1964; Moscow, 1959; in the Amygdala, 1959-69; and Kinshasa, 1960. The title is taken from The Crystals's 1962 song "He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)", written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King.[3] Production ------------------------------------------------------------------- The production was staged at Quay House, in the disused former offices of the National Probation Service on Quay Street, central Manchester. The production ran between 2nd and 19th July 2009, as part of the second Manchester International Festival. "Imagine walking into a disused building. You find yourself inside a film. It is a ghost story where unexpected forces, veiled by the American Dream, come out from the dark to haunt you." The film and event makes extensive use of archive footage. Upon arrival at the event groups of nine[4] visitors are taken to a darkened sixth floor. The 54 minute film (available for a limited time online in the UK)[5] is only a small section ("the film club") of the event. [6] Featured in the story are Eldridge Cleaver, Doris Day, Little Eva, Philip K Dick, Enos (a chimpanzee sent into space), Sidney Gottlieb, Rock Hudson, Saddam Hussain, Richard Nixon, Lee Harvey Oswald, Lou Reed, Mobutu Sese Seko, B F Skinner, Phil Spector, Tina Turner and Frank Wisner. As with all Curtis' work, the Helvetica typeface is prominently featured. "I wanted to do a film about what it actually felt like to live through that time ... Where you could see the roots of the uncertainties we feel today, the things they did out on the dark fringes of the world that they didn't really notice at the time, which would then come back to haunt us." -- Adam Curtis Music ------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh What a Dream - Ruth Brown Camille - From Le Mepris soundtrack - Georges Delerue Let the Four Winds Blow - Fats Domino Stealing Fat - From Fight Club soundtrack - Dust Brothers On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer What Does a Woman Do? - Doris Day Monkey 23 - The Kills Baja - The Astronauts Do-Wah-Diddy - The Exciters Just One Look - Doris Troy Monkey on Your Back - Clinic I'll Be Your Mirror - Velvet Underground Parlez-Moi d'Amour - Lucienne Boyer Pink Shoe Laces - Dodie Stevens Slap in The Face - from The Gadfly - Shostakovich Easier Said Tan Done - The Essex He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss) - The Crystals The Locomotion - Little Eva In Dreams - Roy Orbison End of the World - Skeeter Davis Cha-Cha - from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story - Leonard Bernstein Meeting Scene - from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story Who's That Guy? - The Kolettes The Madison Time, Pt 1 - Ray Bryant Combo All Tomorrow's Parties - The Velvet Underground Love Minus Zero/No Limit - Bob Dylan Cry To Me - Solomon Burke Freak Freak - The Bug Moonlight - Four Sea Interludes (From Peter Grimes) - Benjamin Britten Who Is Tyler Durden? - Fight Club soundtrack - Dust Brothers I Still Miss Someone - Johnny Cash Wouldn't It Be Nice? - Beach Boys Sister Ray - The Velvet Underground Have You Seen Her? - The Chi-Lites River Deep Mountain High - Ike and Tina Turner Is That All There Is? - Peggy Lee Krautrock - Faust Dawn - Four Sea Interludes (From Peter Grimes) - Benjamin Britten