“Funny, dark, engaging and revealing.”
THE HUSTLE ROYALE is a 45-minute exploration of mental health in the workplace. It is being described as funny, thought-provoking and moving. It is just perfect for your next business event, conference or festival. It is semi-autobiographical and explores contemporary corporate life and its impact on mental health in the workplace.
IN THE FOREST
A forest. A man, Joseph Tiberius Bland, comes to terms with the fact that he has failed to take his own life: another failure in a long list of things not quite achieved. Another KPI he’s not delivered upon.
That he is at fault is something he doesn’t recognise. It is the fault of others. Of course, it is.
Bruised, lost and angry, Joseph Bland plans an act of wicked revenge on all those things and people that had ever disrespected him and denied him the success he had always desired and deserved. This five-phase plan would destroy and bankrupt the world: THE HUSTLE ROYALE.
A PRESENTERVENTION
THE HUSTLE ROYALE is my brand new performance and the third and final part of the A Wicked Pack Of Cards Series.
It is part DADA theatre piece, part corporate pitch and part blasphemous game show. It’s a keynote-Intervention or what I now call Presenterventions, where the audience is plunged into a wild ride full of video games, chat, multiverses, gas, art, crypto-coins, business magic and faux-religion.
It is a long-form poem packed with song, corporate paganism, procurement moons and business spells, bitcoins, metaverses, old Gods, greed, foolishness, business purpose, elevator pitches, loneliness, the Internet and the power of love.
WHAT AUDIENCES ARE SAYING
Marcus John Henry Brown is a troubadour, a master kraftsman, and an idiosyncratic spaeman for the imagination age. His latest bone-rattling spectacular is a rich, deep broth well worth dangling your noodles in.
Tim Plester Actor, Writer and Filmmaker.
I laughed. I got goosebumps. I cried. It had everything I love about a MJHB performance. The Hustle Royale unmasks all the bs for what it is and makes us look at what’s really important. It hit right home.
Katja Evertz, Elbespace
With his Hustle Royale, Marcus weaves a tale that is both intensely personal and yet universal; one that he has lived through. It is one that many live through. As a performer, Marcus casts a spell on his audience that is both comforting and intensely uncomfortable. Is he laughing with us or at us? Are we laughing with him or at ourselves? Is this fact or fiction? The answer to all these questions are there to be discovered, if you care to hunt for them. And if not, be thankful that at its worst this is a fantastically inventive piece of entertainment.”
Simon White, Formation London
Have a seat, calm down and embrace the digital insanity we call life. The Hustle Royal gave me the most honest, sometimes even hurtful reflection of my digital career. Funny, dark, engaging and revealing. Marcus created a master piece and it makes you wanna experience it again and again.
Sascha Pallenberg, aware_
Really moving and a great contribution to the conversations about mental health we should all dare to have.
Simonetta Batteiger, Inclusive leaders
The perfomance was a pure delight. It made me (and us all) think about a very important topic which is still a taboo. It was very intense, wild, breathtaking, and touching, because I know a couple of people close to me who have or had mental health issues.
Leo Molatore, Hiscox Germany
The Hustle Royale is a genius piece of art. This performance isn’t about our dark future. It is a tragic, poetic critique of our present day coated in humorous absurdity.
Patrick Breitenbach, Critical Infinity Podcast
You don’t see original things like Hustleology nearly enough these days. Brown has created something unique that holds a mirror up to society and shakes it boldly.
Paul Armstrong, HERE/FORTH
If you’ve worked in or around corporate life you will recognise something and perhaps everything in The Hustle Royale. A unique, enlightening and thoroughly entertaining performance based on corporate life and the impact it has on mental health. You will laugh , cry and learn. Go and see it!
Ken Gordon, ESA
WATCH THE VIDEO EDIT
Please get in touch to find out more about how the live performance can be tailored for your event.
THE BACK STORY
It’s a personal piece that explores a challenging, dark period of my life. It’s about the collapse of my mental health and the condition I was diagnosed with: dissociative fugue. It’s about being up a tree in the middle of the night so lost and feeling so desperately alone and ashamed that you’ve got a laptop cable around your neck and you’re screaming at the moon.
MENTAL HEALTH IN A CORPORATE WORLD
There were three dissociative fugue episodes. Three times between 2000 and 2006, where my mental health was so bad that my mind decided to take my body on a holiday but didn’t bother to tell anyone. Three times I left the house to go somewhere, and three times I woke up somewhere completely different. Three times I was a fictional character who rode into the middle of a disaster, yet, to the outside world, I was a functional human being.
A dissociative fugue is only frightening when you “wake up” – when you regain control of your real you and realise that you’ve plunged your world into complete and utter chaos. Piecing together the bits and pieces of the missing days takes time, therapy, train tickets and credit card receipts. I put myself into a hospital after the third episode.
I know why they happened. I don’t blame anyone but myself. I know that work had a lot to do with it.
At the heart of the trilogy is the night I found myself up a tree with a laptop cable around my neck.
For THE HUSTLE ROYALE, I decided to explore what would happen if the protagonist, having failed to take his own life, sought to take revenge on the pressures, the people and the desires that had gotten him up that bloody tree in the first place.
The protagonist, Joseph Bland, becomes the consultant card reading trickster Joseph Blasphemous. He develops his five-phase plan to bankrupt the world with ideas, technologies, digital products and HUSTLETOLOGY merchandise. The audience watches as Joseph’s mental health crisis becomes our societal crisis in much the same way as we’re watching billionaire tech dudes ride out their mental health crisis right before our very eyes. The gas creeping slowly inward until the whole shit-show implodes, taking us all with it.
The Hustle Royale at the 48fwrd festival in Munich. 5th July. 2022. Photos: Vincenz Vorderwüllbecke
“FUNNY, DARK AND DEEPLY MOVING”
The feedback from the live performances has moved me. I thought long and hard about opening up about all of this, but it would seem that The Hustle Royale has touched a nerve.
I sincerely hope that it might help someone – maybe it could help you or someone you work with.
A WICKED PACK OF CARDS SERIES
- THE HUSTLE ROYALE – (2022) – Berlin, Munich
- HUSTLETOLOGY – (2021) – Virtual performance
- A Wicked Pack of Cards – The Poem (published 2020)
FAQ.
How long is THE HUSTLE ROYALE?
The full performance is 60-minutes long but has been constructed to make shorter arrangements possible. As a result, the shortest version is 20-minutes long.
Can we book The HUSTLE ROYALE for our event?
Of course! I’d love to perform at your event, but please double-check my terms and conditions to avoid embarrassment. There are three versions of the performance you can book:
- The full live experience that includes audience participation, songs and the game show The Breakeven Beast! This is perfect for larger live or hybrid events.
- Prerecorded video showing with Q&A. This option is perfect for a virtual event.
- The Hustle Royale Unplugged. This is a reading of the poem. Just the words and my voice. This is perfect for intimate, low-key events with minimal tech requirements.
What themes does THE HUSTLE ROYALE cover?
The performance explores the bitcoins, metaverses, NFTs, streaming, and gaming, but, at its heart, THE HUSTLE ROYALE is about the dangers of contemporary corporate life on our mental health.
That sounds serious won’t it depress our audience?
Mental health in the workplace is one of the most serious issues we face today. THE HUSTLE ROYALE is a presentervation that holds a mirror up to the audience and asks them to think about the world we are creating. That said, I’ve been told that this is one of the funniest performances I’ve produced to date.
Are you a mental health expert?
No. I’m an artist. I’m not a mental health expert, but THE HUSTLE ROYALE and the rest of the A Wicked Pack Of Cards series is based on my personal experiences and a particularly dark period of my life. If you are struggling and are looking for help may I suggest that you get in touch with your doctor, or reach out to an organisation such as The Samaritans, Calm, or if you’re based in Germany the TelefonSeelsorge on: 0800.1110111
FIND OUT MORE
If you have any questions about this or any of my other performances, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’d love to hear from you. You can book a free 15-minute briefing on ZOOM to find out more and book The Hustle Royale for your event.
Marcus John Henry Brown UG
Münchener Str. 17
82024 Taufkirchen
Germany.
Email: mail (at) marcusjohnhenrybrown.com
Tel.: +49 (0)89 444 69 744