Play At Home

Play At Home was a 45 minute Channel 4 television special featuring several bands, such as New Order, Echo and the Bunnymen, Virginia Astley and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Each program was devoted to one individual band as a way to gather publicity, and they were allowed to perform in somewhat spontaneous creative ways.

Siouxsie and the Banshees Programme
Siouxsie and the Banshees were invited to film it in 1983 and it was aired on September 1984. Their session featured work from the Banshees, The Creatures and The Glove. All four members of the band were present at the time, including their producer Mike Hedges as Queen of Hearts. (see Programme's Cast to the right)

Background and Idea
Robert Smith had been fascinated by the group and had previously suggested: the Banshees shouldn't be doing tours, they should be doing something really ambitious like The Wizard of Oz on stage

Which gave Severin the idea to adapt that to the "Play At Home" episode, substituting The Wizard of Oz concept with Alice in Wonderland, which worked well with the theme of the Banshees' Wonderland recording label.

Program's Content
The program contains a series of monologues by each band member, music from all three bands: Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Creatures and The Glove; then concludes with live footage of Siouxsie and the Banshees playing live at the Royal Albert Hall.