Angels
Revolutionaries
Dreamers

Black and white logo of a rat wearing sunglasses, with the words 'Red Molé' in a circular arrangement around it.

I gave my life happily.

Red Mole was my forge. Inside this cauldron of artistic experimentation, there was a mission. We taught each other, challenged each other, and together we made a technique. We rubbed against each other, cleaning and polishing. I learned to make things with the mediums of my art and to know from its gritty and sweet interior the joy of artistic collaboration.

We were practitioners of high regard. We lived for the work, travelled incessantly and performed constantly. We had a rhythm, a way we could do it together. It was enormous fun.

Let us pray….for the spirits of Alan and Sally.

A mime performer dressed in colorful patterned pants, white vest, black hat, and white face makeup, performing outdoors in a garden with flowers and greenery.
A mime performer dressed in white with sunglasses, holding a guitar and a large prop sword, standing against a dark curtain.
  • A woman playing a guitar while a clown dressed as a pirate sits nearby, outdoors at night.

    Vargos Circus

    Vargos Circus was my first show with the Moles. We toured camping grounds and community halls in the summer of 1976. The show was loosely based on the Henri Rousseau painting The Lion and the Gypsy. In this photo Greta Campbell is the Gypsy and I’m some kind of amorous guitarist. It was an unforgettable summer of playing, romancing Greta and realising that this is what I wanted to do.

  • A man dressed as Uncle Sam holding a drink and cigarette, standing next to a boy with curly hair wearing a plaid shirt, on stage in a theatrical setting.

    Ace and Uncle Sam

    Wellington Town Hall Concert Chamber Red Mole premiered Ace Follies in the winter of 1976. It was a satirical take on the then prime minister Robert Muldoon’s recent world tour. In this photo he meets Uncle Sam who offers him a drink, a new coat and much else besides. We staged satirical scenes at locations of Muldoon’s visits including The Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris, dinner with geisha attendants in Tokyo and at the border between north and south Korea. At this location Ace jumped onto a ballistic missile which blasted off and took him all the way….home!

  • Black and white photo of four people on stage. Two seated, two standing, in theatrical costumes. The seated woman wears a shiny dress, the seated man wears a plaid shirt, and the standing person wears a dark jacket and a large hat. The other standing person is dressed as a clown with striped tights, a large wig, and dramatic makeup.

    Ace Follies

    In the scene set at The Crazy Horse Saloon (infamous Parisian Nightclub) Deborah as waitress would pluck from her black velvet jacket a paper mache breast into which she would pour champagne. In this photo Helen Pankhurst, Deborah and Alan.

Children in a theatrical performance, with one child holding a large prop rifle in the foreground and five other children standing in a line behind, some holding sticks, on a dark stage.

Goin To Djibouti

Our first venue upon arrival in New York 1979 was the Westbeth Theatre in West Greenwich Village. The piece was called Goin To Djibouti and was set around the story of a Cuban mercenary who went to Angola to inspire revolution. In the photo below, left to right, myself, a local ring-in, Deborah, Alan and Sally. It was the first soundstage, built for the The JazzSinger with Al Jolson.

In this cavernous space, an ancient heating system was strapped to the interior walls. At one point, I made an exit into the ducts, crawled to the opposite side of the stage to make an entrance, having changed into the lizard mask and costume on the way. The Lizard disappeared into the duct to reappear once again transformed into Tarzan, who swung from a rope tied to the lighting grid.

In the belly of the mole

  • Last Days of Mankind. 1979

    The Last Days of Mankind. Red Mole, Theatre for the New City, April 1979.

    At 4 am on March 28th 1979, there was a partial core meltdown in Unit Two of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in the state of Pennsylvania near the city of Harrisburg, 249 kilometres east of New York City.
    Continue reading.

    A person wearing a red dress dancing with a person in a black suit wearing a wolf mask.

  • New York New York. 1980

    We had a problem. Chelsea and Bristol have made it clear that although they will pay the rent from their cheap champagne skin trade associations, they will in no way dish out souvlaki and hero money. Continue reading.

    A woman dressed as a mime performing in a park, holding a guitar and bending forward, with a cardboard sign on the ground that reads 'No Imitation Too Much'. Several children and adults are watching her performance, with trees and a wooden fence in the background.

  • Santa Fe. 1982

    Bang!!!
    Christ that hurt, right on the point of the hip. Hey here he comes again the trolley swinging free in a wide arc as I turn to avoid (is this an act, am I performing this???) Continue reading.

    Black and white photo of a young man with medium-length hair, leaning forward with his arms crossed on a surface, in a room with posters on the wall.

  • The Late Show. 1982

    Pyramid Theatre Times Square New York New York.

    “Cut!!” This from the Rooster.
    Cut Cut Cut!!!
    What the hell is he doing? Continue reading.

    Black and white photo of four women standing on a sidewalk with a brick wall and iron fence behind them. One woman in the foreground is covering her face with her hands, wearing a headscarf and black dress. The other women are standing and watching, with one leaning against the wall.

  • The Late Club. NYNY Summer 1983

    “What’s on your mind Deborah?”

    “Seduction”.

    The jukebox had pumped its closing beats, and we were walking back to the barroom's long bar where gins sat cup by cup. Continue reading.

    Black and white portrait of a woman with curly platinum blonde hair, wearing a shirt with a button featuring her face.

  • Raising Aphrodite. A Requiem.

    New York 1983 & Wellington 2002.

    It’s just gone 9pm as I sidle down the three grimy steps from street level and into Tin Pan Alley, a famous name, a faceless bar corner at 49th and Broadway. Continue reading.

    A woman with wavy hair wearing a hat with a veil and a feathered accessory around her neck, in a black and white photo.

Red Mole on screen

Want to see more? Discover Red Mole - A Romance documentary film by Annie Goldson, Red Mole on the road 1979, directed by Sam Neil for The National Film Unit and Radio With Pictures, Red Mole (Life is a Zoo).

Red Mole: A Romance

Feature documentary by Annie Goldson is now available on NEON, AroVision. Click here for viewing options:

Red Mole: A Romance
A black-and-white photo of seven people standing outdoors with a bridge visible in the background.