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Rod Dickinson: In around 1977 my daughter's then boyfriend aged about 17 or 18 wrote a song and did a pop demo (voice and piano by him plus other instruments) about the Jonestown event. It was spectacular and unforgettable - with a hint of Elton John about the arrangement - but it was alas unpublished. If you were interested I would see if there is still a professional quality tape. Too late for this re-enactment no doubt but the story in the Independent prompted me to write to you. NH.

I just wanted to express my support for the continuing Jonestown
Reenactment. The experience at the ICA was a profound one, confounding
expectations and achieving a really unique sense of occasion. Boundaries
between past and present, theatre, art and reality were effectively blurred
to produce a genuine collaboration between subject, performer and audience.
I was anxious, disgusted, impressed, awed by turns. And I can't remember the
last time that happened in the context of theatrical performance! I consider
this to be a project that contributes hugely to the vitality of London
cultural life.

you all are a bunch of sick basterds

what you all stupid or on crack

Would really have loved to have been there for the production.

I'm putting out a collection of narrative poems in the Fall of 2000 that began with a performance piece entitled "The Courtship of Jim Jones" - book will have the same title. It's mainly written in the voice of Marceline Jones, (wife), a complex and freakishly silent actor in the People's Temple who was both a facilitator and a traitor. I also feel that it is obvious that the elements of theatre and tricksterism - and the tragedy of the hoax that folds in on itself to actualization - are the pivotal elements that give Jonestown its powerful mythology and permanent status as fable, not simply history.

There are so many subtle parellels that link the story of the People's Temple to western cultural history and theology that it often becomes cumbersome to tell the tale with any intelligence, much less create viable art from a series of semi-staged moments, sermons, manipulations, psycho-sexual stealth attacks that were, in themselves, art - often - and perversely - great art. Maybe this is Jones' finest hoax of all - our inability to clearly articulate the litany of cultural synaptical sparks he let loose in us. You deserve enormous credit for your work on this project.

Wish I could be of help to you for any future work on the re-enactment, but - being out here in Ohio - I doubt I would be of much use. Let me know if I can lend you any support over here.

Julie

having read through other elements of your web site, I'm begining to wonder if you understand the fundamental realities of the situation you are attempting to portray. Having studied this event for a number of years, albeit on a casual basis, I am unsettled by the tone of your expressed perceptions of this event. How do you intend to portray the events at the airport, where Senator Ryan was murdered, amongst others. How do you intend to weave this important, if not formative, event into your reconstruction. Don't get me wrong, I am, generally speaking, in favour of what you are, what you seem to be trying to do. But do any of you have any real experience of these things? Have any of the prime architects of this event have any real experience of cult religion? I feel, having some brief exposure to their potency, that however these events are portayed they will lack the veritas and gravitas of the original. Regardless of my criticisms, however, you have my applause for attempting to enlighten people to the consequences of such desperate actions.

As a live re-enactment, The Promised Land surpassed all expectations. From the moment Graham Elder walked into the room smiling and gesturing at members of the audience as if they were old friends he had us captivated, as Jones original audiences must have been. To see Jones brought to life so convincingly - even down to a costume in which he was photogrpahed - was a strange and powerful experience.

Jones speech, taken from transcripts of real sermons, was cunningly and effectively edited to encompass all his obsessions, fears and delusions without seeming forced. In the light of the recent horrors of The Restoration of the Ten Commandments Church in Uganda, knowing what Jones was preparing us for contributed an added air of malaise to the proceedings, making involvement in the White Night re-enactment an unsettling, but strangely enticing prospect.

To see Jones presented in a human context, rather than as simply a monster, was a refreshing, and in my mind important re-envisioning of an event that still manages to defy our comprehension almost a quarter of a century later. As it said over Jones' throne "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." They are also often liable to reinvent it , with potentially dangerous consequences. So such a well-researched and sympathetic (re) presentation of this troubling affair can only be applauded and encouraged to continue in its stated aims.

Mark Pilkington
Contributing Editor
Fortean Times Magazine

I wasn't sure what to expect from the reenactment - but I was at once moved, unsettled and informed by this compelling performance. I was particularly struck by the insight it gave me into Jones and how persuasive and committed he must have seemed to be to his church members. The speech really surprised me - he was lucid, passionate, committed, caring, believable. He's been a bogeyman of modern times - someone I've grown up with, like the Yorkshire Ripper or Charles Manson - but watching him 'live again' gave me a much deeper understanding than I felt I could have got from reading old press clippings or books. I know that this experience will live on in my mind and it's already made reexamine prejudices I have held about 'organised religion' and its participants. I wholeheartedly support the efforts of the team to bring this invigorating experience to a wider public, and very much hope that they get the opportunity to do so. <Clare hudson> <Clare.Hudson@razorfish.co.uk>
<London> < uk>

The print on your site is TOO SMALL. Change the FONT so people can read the damn thing! If you want to be taken seriousy, allow people to read you easily.

I am singer & rhythm guitarist in "the dharma bums", a Birmingham-based 4 piece band. We recorded a song a couple of years ago called 'Last Supper', all of the lyrics of which came from a transcript of the last day at Jonestown. We would be interested in the song being used as a part of your performance.
good luck with the re-enactment.

andy taylor
the dharma bums

I read Deborah Layton's book SEDUCTIVE POISON which is now impossible to find here. I had to log onto Amazon and purchase it from the States. It is a powerful and rivettingly honest account of her life in the People's Temple. She has an informative website which you do not have displayed anywhere on your homepage.

WWW.SEDUCTIVEPOISON.COM
WWW.PEOPLESTEMPLE.COM

Does she know about this project? Is she supportive?

Robert Locksley
< UK>

Odd idea. Hope you do the tragedy justice. Hopefully this is not an effort to make light of the deaths of so many individuals. On what premis have you created this 'play'. Who was you expert?

Randall Gregg
< Spain>

I think that this is one of the most brave and interesting concepts I have seen, and I wish you success with it. I wish I could be there, because Jonestown as an event has had a significant effect on my growing up. It was a great comfort for me to learn some of the reasons behind the suicides. It was of more comfort to learn that some of the deaths were murder, because it hurt too much to believe that so many people would just give up. Your re-enactment offers others a chance to learn the truths on more of a one-to-one basis.

I'm still trying to digest this idea.
Will there be a discussion afterwards?
Is this to educate or titilate?
For this to be taken seriously there must be dialoge associated with it. Are any experts invited?

Inventive idea. If we can learn from it then it will be educational.
What makes this different from a re-enactment of a Nazi death camp? Both seem alike. People followed a charismatic leader (hitler and jim jones)and were lead astray. History can repeat itself unless we do try to understand it.

LINKS
You are missing the link for your the first book listed in the Bibliography's Essential reading:

seductivepoison.com

Can you add it?

I HEARD DEBORAH LAYTON, AUTHOR OF SEDUCTIVE POISON RECENTLY ON BBC WORLD NEWS DISCUSSING THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THE UGANDAN INCIDENT AND THE JONESTOWN MASSACRE. SHE WAS ELOQUENT AND WISE IN HER COMMENTS. I WAS TOUCHED BY HER INSIGHTFUL COMMENT THAT NO ONE JOINS A CULT. A PERSON JOINS A SELF HELP GROUP, POLITICAL MOVEMENT OR RELIGIOUS GROUP BELIEVING THEY ARE WHAT THEY SAY AND THAT THESE INNOCENT ORGANIZATIONS CAN CHANGE AND BECOME MALIGNANT. i HAD NEVER LOOKED AT THIS PHENOMENON IN THAT WAY BEFORE AND IT DOES SHED A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT LIGHT ON WHAT HAPPENED TO HER. I IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED TO HER WEBSITE: SEDUCTIVEPOISON.COM TO LEARN MORE AND ORDERED TEH BOOK THROUGH HER AMAZON LINK. IT IS A REMARKABLE READ AND I AGREE WITH YOUR SUGGESTION THAT IT SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING BEFORE WATCHING THIS PRODUCTION.

IF WHAT YOU ARE DOING BY THIS RE-ENACTMENT, TO SHOW PEOPLE HOW THE INNOCENT AND WELL INTENTIONED OF THIS WORLD CAN BECOME CAUGHT IN A GROUP AND NOT GET OUT-- THEN THIS COULD BE A VERY PROFOUND EVENT.

I ONLY HOPE THAT YOU HAVE MADE EVERY EFFORT TO INCLUDE HER AND OTHERS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SUCH ENTRAPPMENT.

SINCERELY, MARL LEESON

The font should be larger it is hard to read such small white print on black background.

I agree with the rpevious commentor that Ms. Layton the woman whos book "Seductive Poison" you suggest as important reading should be invited from the United States.

I hope you have invited the author of seducitve Poison, Deborah Layton to the production. I went to school with her in Yorkshire and would love to hear her comments before or after the presentation.

Those coming out against the re-examination of the events around Jonestown all appear to offer the same objections - it shouldn't be done because it touches upon death and might cause distress to someone, somewhere. If we applied this criteria to all historical material, we wouldn't have any.
It does suggest that while 'authorised' carnage (wars,police v criminals, etc) is legitimate material to research, make movies about and discuss, cults (alive or dead) are beyond the pale of both rational thought and examination. The very fact that cults have so often ended in tragedy, on a minor or major scale, means we should be brave enough to step outside the boundaries of social norms and think about them more often, not less. I hope the reenactment goes ahead.

It's a great website but could use more pics....or article replications. Very helpful on reports

Your website makes reference to a lengthy article that I wrote about Jonestown ("Lobster, No. 37"), recommending the piece while at the same time alleging that it contains "crucial factual errors." To date, despite repeated vettings of the article by journalists and academics, you are the only source to make such an allegation. And so I ask you: to what "factual errors" do you refer? If you're unable to identify them, I would ask that you remove the remark from your website. Thanks,
Jim Hougan

I'm interested in performance art would like to hear more about this project - I'll check back later

Awaiting more information - you've been publisising this site for quite some time now but its becoming a bit of a cobweb. Could you provide more context and state more about the extent of your research? At the moment, the Protest performance art section is still empty - and that seems to be where you would provide some of the more obvious clues on your rationale and thinking.

You, sir, are disgusting. It's a crying shame you think this should be reenacted. You should contact help before you hurt yourself and others.

Mari
< USA>

Why in the world would anybody desire to re-enact the Jonestown tragedy? This is beyond comprehension! I cannot believe people are wanting to do something that was a horrifying part of history. I don't think anybody has forgotten Jonestown. To do something like this would be openning painful wounds to the loved ones of the victims. I don't agree with this at all!

It's a sad state of affairs when we spend our time re-enacting mass death. You should be celebrating life!!!!!!

I think your idea is sick. Don't you think there are better things to do than this, or are you REALLY bored?

I heard the BBC Radio 4 SUNDAY programme this morning, Sunday June 20th.

I am sorry but I think your re-enactment idea is sick, and not helpful to an understanding of the Jonestown tragedy.

You say that "the idea of a mass reenactment of death, echoes the die-in protests held by CND in the eighties, and guerrilla performances in the US protesting against the Vietnam war in the sixties. In both instances groups of volunteers or protesters would enact a mass death."

The Jonestown massacre bears no resemblance to the deaths in Vietnam. Public War and private Cult/Sect activities should not be confused. The only link in common is the involvement, in one way or another, of the US government. The CND/Anti-war demonstrators were trying to halt war initiated by national governments. Jim Jones and his followers had their own private agenda. Is this re-enactment a genuine attempt to understand the psychology of cult/sect leadership and followers? I doubt it. Have the organisers considered the pain such a prurient event would cause to the survivors of Jonestown and the relatives of those who died?

has commented above on the Channel 4 documentary. A recorded track of the cries of the children, the bullying of Jones's lieutenants and the fact that some victims were shot are still vivid in my personal memory. Historically, re-enactments and examinations of such incidents have done nothing to prevent similar events - and here I include the Waco, Hale-Bopp and the Solar Temple suicides. Knowledge of the horrors of war failed to prevent the ethnic so-called cleansing in Kosovo. In Kosovo, as in Waco and Jonestown, intrusive action by military forces, whether national or international, in all probability exacerbated the incidents and augmented the death count.

If you must re-enact anything to do with Jonestown it should be a close examination of the intrusive behaviour of government agencies.

We are approaching the Millennium � which some consider to be a prime opportunity for cultic end-time activity. I hope your planned re-enactment hasn�t some hidden agenda within. Will you provide a �taster� to demonstrate the safety of your re-enacted final potion?

Jen Cairns

Jen Cairns <jen.cairns@lamp.ac.uk>
<Lampeter> < Wales>

I am a freelance journalist and would be interested in writing a feature about the reenactment - either before or after it is performed. Please get back to me at the above email address if you would like to discuss this possibility further.

I think that your proposal sounds very interesting, however I would question your motives and in fact would like to know what they truly are as there is very little stated in this site.
I realise that you cannot use small children in this reenactment, but even in your seemingly liberal world you must realise that it is a very important part of the whole situation.
Surely the fact that you can't use children would make your entire point (whatever it is)irrelevant.
I also see that you have included links to particular sites that give more background to Jonestown, and this is another point I'd like to make; How can you portray something that is obviously a complicated and substantially long chain of events that are not only relevant in their final, terrible culmination?
Any way you look at Jonestown, the mass suicide is obviously the result of the strange things that people do when they are under extreme stress. To leave out what brought about such terrible malady is to make your reenactment a little pointless.
Also, I don't know to what extent you are going to let 'Jim Jones' have his say in terms of conversations he had in his final moments, but I can't help but notice all the quotes on this page are from him.
Coupled with the fact that you seem to be placing importance on one note written be only *one* member of Jonestown, it seems to me that you are in some way trying to justify an event that was a great tragedy and should never have happened.
To me, the last Channel 4 documentary on the subject was such that it really cannot be possible to shed any more light on the Jonestown suicide/massacre. It will never be possible to find out exactly why people do such things in spite of all the witness accounts/other comments/evidence/etc (the same case with Heavens Gate).
While a constructive dialogue needs to be maintained in order to try and prevent such things happening again by making people aware of how spiritually vulnerable they can be, I don't see, at present, how your reenactment contributes to this.

Your Jonestown re-enactment recruitment stall at UnConvention 99 was fleetingly mentioned in the 'Tuesday Review' features section of 'The Independent' on Tue 27th April. The article was by Andrew Mueller:

"...In the room across the hall, merchandising stalls teem with Star Trek, Star wars and X-Files toys, flying saucer egg cups, rocket shaped salt and pepper shakers, and books with titles like 'How to contact the Dead and Particles'. A computer offers to read your aura for �15 a go, and some sort of ICA-affiliated group touts for volunteers to participate in a - hopefully purely theatrical - re-enactment of the 1978 mass suicide by followers of loony evangelist Jim Jones."