'The Baby Farmer'
The Play, The Book, The exhibition
In 2016 Chloe joined forces with The Laudanum Project to present The Baby Farmer, a multifaceted, "unholy trinity" that consisted of a one act play, an illustrated book and an accompanying exhibition that launched in March 2017. For 18 months Chloe created over 25 charcoal drawings for The Baby Farmer book. Each page of exquisite writing has been intricately drawn to capture the impact and detail of each scene.
Set against the backdrop of London's East End during the 1870's, The Baby Farmer explores the isolation and spiralling madness that surrounds 6 year old Agatha May and her mentally ill mother Winnifred Alcorn. Amidst an ever growing nightmare of premonitions, omens and visitations Agatha and Winnifred's darkened world slowly begins to unravel when a shadowy stranger with a sinister agenda appears on the streets of Whitechapel and initiates a terrifying game of cat and mouse that will leave both mother and daughter changed forever.
"My focus until now has been on using charcoal on paper to create intricate portraits. I spent many hours reworking details and depth, to achieve realism, challenging myself to develop my charcoal drawing techniques. The aim is to be accurate but also capture and evoke the life and experience of the person in the portrait.
This project, The Baby Farmer, has been a mountain of fascinating, challenging and creative work with a wide array of faces, settings and details. I'm extremely proud of this collection of drawings. The Baby Farmer performance, exhibition and book are like nothing I have ever seen." Chloe Neath
"Four and a half stars", Richard Evans, The Advertiser.
"The illustrations that Neath has produced for the book will also be exhibited during the course of the production and are strikingly original and incongruently beautiful." Di Dempsey, Bendigo Weekly.
"I was left numb by the experience. This is a must see for lovers of theatre and ghostly tales." - Kerry Cooper, Stage Whispers.
