Speak No More - Lovecraft
by La Fenice
Jul. 31 - Aug. 23
Fridays-Sundays
When a summer squall rolls in off the Atlantic and the sky turns the color of a bruise, even the most rational New Englander knows to get indoors. La Fenice and Golden: Silent Improvised Stories invite Austin audiences into that storm — and into something far older — with Speak No More: Lovecraft, a fully improvised, entirely silent immersive theatre experience running Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8 p.m. from July 31 through August 23 at The Tavern, Austin's famously haunted brewpub on Lamar Boulevard.
Speak No More:Lovecraft drops audiences into a sleepy New England coastal town on the night of the Great Convergence — a cosmic event long whispered about, long dreaded, and suddenly, terrifyingly, here. A summer squall has driven the town's residents into the local tavern for shelter, and what unfolds over the course of the evening will change each of them forever. The show draws deeply on the atmospheric dread and eldritch mythology of H.P. Lovecraft's fiction — ancient forces, creeping madness, the unbearable weight of the unknown — while deliberately centering the music and soundscape exclusively on artists of color, a pointed response to Lovecraft's well-documented racism.
No two audience members will experience the show the same way. There are no formal seating spaces, no guided path. Audience members are free to roam the space, plant themselves at the bar, or lock eyes with a character descending into cosmic horror — it's entirely their call. The performance unfolds in three thirty-minute loops, giving audiences the rare opportunity to see everything that happens in this world, or simply to let certain mysteries deepen.
The format is not new to Austin — it has earned La Fenice and Golden: Silent Improvised Stories a B. Iden Payne Award for Outstanding Audience Experience, among many others — but Speak No More: Lovecraft brings this production to a venue with famous ghosts of its own. The Tavern, built in 1916 and one of Austin's oldest continuously operating bars, comes with its own storied reputation for the unexplained. In a show about forces beyond human comprehension, the setting is less backdrop than collaborator.
And because it's all improvised, no performance is ever the same. The residents of this New England town are alive — reacting, unraveling, discovering — anew each night.
Speak No More: Lovecraft is recommended for audiences 14 and up. The show contains themes of cosmic horror, existential dread, and Lovecraftian content. No dialogue is spoken during the performance, and introductions to the format are available in ASL, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.
Performance Details
Show: Speak No More: Lovecraft Venue:
About La Fenice
La Fenice is an Austin-based theatre ensemble known for its physical theatre performances. Their award winning physical theatre performance, instruction and scholarship has been exported worldwide. www.lafeniceaustin.org
About Golden: Silent Improvised Stories
Golden: Silent Improvised Stories has been performing silent improv for over a decade. Rooted in pantomime and the silent films of the 1920s, Golden has performed in Austin and at festivals around the country.
Speak No More - Lovecraft
by La Fenice ensemble
La Fenice
July 31 - August 23, 2026
somewhere in Austin
to be announced
Austin, TX, 78700
