D E S C E N T

Written, Performed and Composed by KH Del Rio Smith

D E S C E N T is an intimate, confessional, conversational performance that explores themes of memory, self-discovery, truth, and myth. The storyteller, KH exists in a liminal space, in which the only comfort can be found through the rediscovery of items they had hidden from themselves long ago and you, the audience. Using personal objects and artifacts, stories, and memories, underpinned by a score of original music from the time, and tied to the world of Myths, the nameless womxn asks you to journey with them as they descend into the depths of their own memory, interrogate events from their past and discover a truth that they had long since hidden from themself.

Originally performed as part of Cleave Festival at Goldsmiths July 2021, University of London, as part of Croydonites Festival 2022, and then developed at Camden People’s Theatre as part of SPRINT Festival 2023. It returned to Croydonites Festival 2023 as part of the London Borough of Culture programme (Read reviews here and here).

KH deploys a multidisciplinary approach, mainly applying storytelling & performance with song, mythology and object-based puppetry to facilitate the audience through the journey of the piece. The autobiographical piece was created using personal archival praxis to develop material, build an authentic world and anchor the audience into the story and the world. The piece is raw, confessional and conversational with the audience, it brings them into the account and asks them to reflect on both the artist’s experiences and their own to ask whether more could be done to prevent the effects of the toxic hypersexual nature of high schools and the long-term impact this has on victims and perpetrators.