A hilarious reimagining of the 1997 blockbuster film Titanic by the peerlessly subversive and wacky Dynasty Handbag.
Dynasty Handbag’s Titanic Depression sends up James Cameron’s 1997 Hollywood hit, reimagining it as a hilariously bleak parable of human arrogance in today’s era of runaway, consumerism-driven climate change.
More so a live multimedia event than solely performance, Titanic Depression combines animation, video, soundscapes and improvisation into a story about how a ship advertised as unsinkable strikes an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sinks; fitted with too few lifeboats, Titanic’s poor, third class passengers were largely left behind as the vessel’s wealthier occupants were rushed to safety. The disaster became a potent symbol of the haves versus the have nots.
Turned into numerous films—the most financially successful being Cameron’s—this well-worn narrative of class and gender inequality is, in the hands of Handbag’s outrageous physicality and unique improvisational skills, wildly digressed, veering from Hollywood’s obsession with disaster plots to our morbid fascination with death—namely, our own. She plays various characters in the film, such as “Rose,'' who sparks a torrid, interspecies romance with “Jack,” a mute octopus escaping the warming seas by stowing away on the ship disguised as a giant ladies hat. While the iceberg melts in balmy weather before the Titanic reaches it, the vessel goes down anyway in a tour de force of nonsensical, collective doom—a tragicomedy of our own making that no amount of metal straws or fastidiously-sorted recycling will fix. At a time of climate crisis on seemingly every front, “levity arises out of the sheer pressure cooker of the era we are collectively experiencing,” as the artist has noted.
In the Press
“Must-see Seattle theater in March and April 2025” by Gemma Wilson for the Seattle Times | March 11, 2025
“March Roars In With A Delicious Array Of Seattle Theater Treats” by Miryam Gordon for Seattle Gay Scene | March 2, 2025
“A Surrealist ‘Titanic’ — Featuring an Octopus, a Wiggly Dance and Mark Zuckerberg” by Melena Ryzik for the New York Times | May 17, 2023
“Nervous Wreck: Dynasty Handbag’s Titanic and the farce of history” by by Rachel Valinsky for Artforum Magazine | June 21, 2023
“Titanic Depression is not a parody” by Megan Hullander for Document Journal | June 1, 2023
“Performance Artist Jibz Cameron Does a Killer Martha Stewart Impression” by Megan Hullander for Cultured Magazine | June 22, 2023
Artists
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Jibz Cameron | Writer, Performer, Director, Drawings, Additional Sound Designer
Mariah Garnett | Visual Director, Editor
Reilly Horan | Production Manager
Serena Wong | Lighting Designer
Nick Chimienti | Video and Sound Supervisor
Ryan Clark | LA Lighting Associate
James Bennett | NY Video and Sound Supervisor and Editor
LD DeArmon | NY Lighting Associate
Chloe Alexandra Thompson | Original Technical Director & Sound Designer
Sacha Yanow | Dramaturg
Amanda Verwey | Co-Writer & Creative Producer
Amy Von Harrington | Animator
Dylan Phillips | Original Lighting Designer
Sue Slagle (SUE-C) | Original Concept Collaborator
Tyler Rai | Producer
James Bennet | Additional Video Editor
Scotty Slade Wager | Additional Video Editor
Val Toranto | Visual Production Assistant
Miguel Alaya | 🐙 Puppet Designer
69 US, Amanda Verwey | 🗑️ Costume Designer
Performances
On the Boards (Seattle, WA) - March 2025
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles, CA - November 2024
New York Live Arts (NYLA) Live Ideas 2023: Planet Justice, New York, NY - January 2024
Pioneer Works World Premiere, New York, NY - May 2023
Commissioned by Pioneer Works and curated by David Everitt Howe. It was co-presented by New York Live Arts as part of Live Ideas 2023: Planet Justice. The performance is made possible with support from Creative Capital, The Guggenheim Foundation, Ballroom Marfa, Center for Performance Research, Chorus Foundation, and MacDowell.
Photos by Walter Wlodarczyk