performingartsincornwall

Fresh from their astonishing work out as the rude mechanicals in the Royal Shakespeare Company's countrywide production of  Midsummer Night's Dream - Carnon Downs Drama Group continue their tradition of tackling contemporary drama and imaginatively revive David Hare's play "Amy's View" written in the late 90s which follows the falling  fashions in, and relevance of the theatre (a subject that Hare's career at the NT staunched)  the rise of TV, from the late 1970s to the mid 90s.   A family thespian story  set in suburban Pangbourne follows  through the lives of Esme Allen ( characterfully played by Oriel Bennett) we discover as a traditional leading lady dismissive of her son-in-law Dominic Tyghe's (Dylan Frankland) populism as a TV personality and critic and where personal animosity to him  muddies her relationship with daughter Amy Thomas (Zoe Vale).   Traditional dismissive and  snobby attitude to money lead Esme to the trauma of the Lloyds syndicat

9th August 2017 at 1300 The Jazz Bar Edinburgh Daniel Smith piano Scott Hannah guitar Daniel Smith is a very adept Boogie Woogie and Blues pianist and an easy stage entertainer.  His lunchtime set at Edinburgh Fringe in the Piano Bar was packed ..and for good reason as this is a hi-energy perfomance with a very up beat presentation.   Scott Hannah on guitar provided an ideal low key but able foil to the fireworks on the piano. Between excerpts of St Louis Blues 1930s, Basin Street Blues, Honky Tonk blues, we had new work featuring Jamaican ryhthm,  Ska, R&B.   The pianism is enthusiastic and sparkling, the repartee is fast and welcoming and the knowledge of his subject draws even non-jazzers into his world.   As a pianist myself, his technique and command is impressive and enviable!   I have promoted gigs in Cornwall on Carn to Cove with Daniel Smith in the past and audience have loved it and this was a reminder that he is still there and as dazzling and entertaining as ever

Monday 10th July 2017  Krysia Osostowicz, Oscar Perks violin, Yuko Inoue viola, Richard Jenkinson cello East Cornwall Youth String Orchestra director Tim Boulton The Dante Quartet have been running a chamber music -plus festival in East Cornwall for 14 years and I confess this is the first time I have been able to attend what has become a critical event in East Cornwall classical music making of recent years http://www.dantefestival.org/contact.htm .  This concert was the opening of a busy week  which includes concerts up and down the Tamar Valley, including today in Blisland and Launceston and at Calstock Chapel, Callington Church.    The  leader Krysia Ososkovich is now resident in Cornwall  - in fact co leader because   Oscar Perks led the astonishing performance of Shostokovich's 7th Quartet and the Arensky, so in this quartet leading honours are shared.  Yuko Inoue the violist is a strong middle anchor and,  the relatively new member (to me) of this quartet (whic

9th August 2017 A seven hander  with a sort of Ancient Greek style drama - a  chorus,  three musicians but the whole cast alsosing well in harmony.  This from the copany Patch of Blue who previously performed "By the Sea" and  a successful show Back to Blackbrick about dementia We are in a hermetic commune located  where all the young people are children of Elah.  Modelled on some of the sect like, The modern world is "Out" and the young people we encounter are happy in their diurnal regimen .  Like "The Beach" it is illness which the Elders try to conceal  which forces a braver young woman to look for assistance in the outland any maybe to find her mother who departed many years before. The creepiness and the oppressiveness of "The Elders" who are never seen but who oversee the monotony of daily labour and curfew are well caught and the damaged horizons of the young now emerging into adulthood brought up to fear the outside.  Their encoun

Summerhall was the centre of much interesting Edinburgh Fringe Programming this year The phenomenon of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome  affects present day sufferers and this play cleverly conjures the dilemmas that sufferers and their partners encounter in dealing with this very real experience but one which tests the nature of our beliefs.   This one woman play developed by Rachel Bagshaw and Chris Thorpe and performed with delightful candour and openness by Hannah McPake is gripping and fascinating On the surface it is an attempt to describe the realities of phantom pain sufferers and its effects on their social and personal releations.  It  has also had the benefit of a fistful of medical Professors who have collaborated on the background.    A remarkable monotone screen and set provides a digital text and graphic accompaniement allowing the audience to "enter the pain" not in a sadistic way but to understand its pervasiness and some of its dimension. Deeper t

Friday 11th August at King's Hall, 21.30  As part of the Canada 150th anniversary presentation a new space occupying a church "King's Hall" behind Summerhall in Edinburgh has been curated as a Canada Hub. Showcasing some content produced for the Dominion's anniversary. I attended this Klezmer music and theatre show which did not entirely comfortably make the Atlantic crossing being somewhat domestically oriented, but nevertheless had contemporary parallels which remind us of Canada's prominent role in opening its doors to more recent Syrian refugees which puts the UK's ignorant shirking to shame. A well told and scripted story by Hannah Moscovitch (the name of the family CHaim and Hannah in the story so possibly her family story??)  of Jewish refugees from the pogroms of the late 19th century in Romania and their  experiences of persecution, exile, deprivation before arriving in Halifax Nova Scotia and settlement in  Montreal and in particular foc

A reprise of Fringe Award winning one- hander tour de force  -  A southern self confessed "fag" author knows he is destined for stardom and  takes on the rednecks, the literary lions of the USA, and Hollywood celebrity   - notably Gore Vidal, Marlon Brando, Marilyn, Hemingway, Mailer,  Dorothy Parker   -  and lords it over them all,  an ego of gigantic proportions makes it big - catty remarks and put downs, bandinage all delivered impeccably in character by Bob Kingdom.  We are taken through the five stages of celebrity:   "Who is Truman Capote?";  "Get me Truman Capote"; "Get me someone who looks like Truman Capote";  "Who is Truman Capote".  From small town America to canyon like mansions of billionaires, to parties in New York swankiest hotels,  to drunken disgrace  on TV  chat shows in the later years...... Even if you have never heard of Truman Capote (Breakfast at Tiffany's , in Cold Blood) ...this show is simply simmerin

This year's St Endellion Festival - the 59th Summer event welcomes back for its opera performance Sir John Tomlinson, who memorably generously stepped in for an ailing Robert Hayward  in the role of Wotan Walkure in 2011 and last year appeared in the title role of Boris Godunov.  This year  with Artistic Director  Mark Padmore, and festival stalwarts  baritone Roderick Williams and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth they perform Benjamin Britten's  great seaborne opera "Billy Budd" next Wednesday 2nd August  and Friday 4th August. I attended the imaginative concert of words and music to celebrate Charles Causley's birth centenary. Undoubtedly Cornwall's premier poet, who lived much of his life in Launceston and, a private man, eschewed the limelight....though Ted Hughes his friend always averred he should have been Poet Laureate.   Causley was very fond of the narrative ballad as a form  but his poetry does not generally lend itself to song writing and setti

The concert opened with the empty stage filling up one by one with the pianist Robert Mitchell arriving first and at the Steinway (he also plays a lovely sounding Hammond organ) kicks out the first theme, followed by bassist Vidal Montgomery,  drummer Robert Fordjour (whose effortless rhythmic innovation and subtle syncopated invention throughout the gig was a sheer delight and gave the whole team a rock solid structure from which Courtney is free to  improvise).   All the guys are black (am i allowed to say this)  it looks good  and while Montgomery is from Tottenham and Fordjour from Croydon and Mitchell from Ilford, Courtney reveals he shares a North West London upbringing with me! This comes up when he dedicates a piece which he performs on the bass flute (a unusual choice for a jazz musician but wow what a lovely bassy sort of vibe and Courtney brings his very percussive finger technique to this instrument too) call "Change has gotta come" not really referencing musicall

@SouthBankCentre @PRSforMusic @BBCRadio 3 Free tickets to a showcase of "a snapshot of what is going on in contemporary music" at the South Bank Centre was too good a offer to miss. I spent a happy summer's day 10th July 2017 on the South Bank listening to the third and last day of a weekend of contemporary music programmed by South Bank's music director Gillian Moore and featuring a broad range of music and new compositions by Simon Holt, Mark Simpson, Jennifer Walshe, Brian Irvine and Mica Levi First session of #NMB17  was a Jazz composition workshop led by Peter Edwards (a musician unknown to me but a bandleader, composer and arranger whose work had been commissioned by Turner Sims).   He had an admirably pragmatic approach to explaining how he went about creating music. Peter sat at the electronic keyboard with laptop perched on it, a whiteboard to the side and a projection screen over his shoulder. The workshop highlighted a critical proble

Balagan Cafe Band  The Poly, Falmouth  19th April 2017 Christian Miller   guitar Richard Jones   fiddle Shirley Smart  cello I think we stumbled on the best live cello jazz playing I have ever heard last night.  we went to the Poly in Falmouth ostensibly to see a new German movie....but the date was wrong so we went to see the band booked for the night ....the Balagan Cafe Band...instead. Billed as a world music crossover band we did not know what to expect but as I walked into the auditorium I immediately brightened  up because there was a cello sitting in front of one of the three chairs.....so I thought I can learn something this evening....boy what a lesson it turned out to be. We were two of a small audience augmented by the lead fiddle players' family celebrating the retirement of the Headteacher of Mylor Primary School The band is a trio Richard Jones  - is a fluent folk-fiddler slick with the wah-wah peddle and enjoying Balkan` riffs - uses an IPAD only to man

Spillikin  a play by John Welch perfomed at the Edinburgh Ftinge Festival 2015 by Pipeline Theatre Another great new play from Cornish company Pipeline Theatre with writer John Welch and Jude and Alan Munden producers following their controversial internet work "Streaming" which played in London last year without attracting the attention of the critics to any degree (why.) This show closes with a realistic rendition of Chet Baker's My Funny Valentine sung by ahighly empathetic   robot.   I cannot be alone in wahting to take this character home with me. To anyone priveleged to be familiar with John Welch's entertaining` funny and acutely well observsed writing as the current writer is proud to be the lachrymose love song provides a jazz signature that pervades his work. See this show for stagecraft, robot realism,  a warm love story exploring gawky awkward teenagers in a first love which turns into abiding love  and care and a fast moving realistic script by John

Roughcut 7th May 2017  Plaza Cinema Truro  @RCfilmnight O region, the Cornish film production company (leading lights brothers Simon and Brett Harvey) presented its second short film challenge competition  - to produce a 51 second film on the subject of "1967 - the Summer of Love" at  WTW's Plaza Cinema Screen 2 in Truro. As I entered Truro I was struck by the youth of the audience.  Here present in the room were many of the film makers and competitors and many were in their teens and twenties and most were local....film is the medium of youth .....  I sat next to a group of film producers from Newquay - a team of four in their late teens  and next to another group of Porthleven families where the kids were the film-makers.  The results were born out in this .  . amazing evening of 50 second films The call out was posted internationally and 33 films were submitted which the audience voted on - there was a great atmosphere as Simon Harvey introduced the series than

30th March 2017 Perranporth Memorial Hall part of the Cornish Week Residency of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Memorial Hall is laid out for the String Section of the BSO sideways on.  The crescent shaped comfy seats the length of the hall draw the packed audience close  to the orchestra on a level into the intimate performance we are to attend. The programme begins with Grieg's Holberg Suite and the easy familiarity and the work does not disguise the care that has gone into the preparatino.  There is no schmaltz or rubato here, Victor Aviat, the French born conductor (an oboist in Berlin and organist) has a very subtle precision to his approach - he is precise, stylish and graceful in his movement and well rehearsed.   The interpretation is  nearly self-effacing in its restraint, but Grieg's glorious melody and bitter sweet reflection glows like a jewel as a result.   The hall is pleasingly dry making a challenge to the ensemble of the strings which apart from th

This is a highly dynamic physical theatre piece which is beautifully performed by a female company of 5 actor/dancers  and two live  musicians in a highly choreographed polemic set about the oppression of women in work.   The landscape is the polluted, industrialised Mexico-US border lands where labour is cheap, and women are exploited and routinely subjugated by the system, the police and the capitalists.  A group of adolescent children play as their mothers endure factory drudgery and 35 pesos a day breadline work.  The ensemble work is both thrilling and engaging with set piece emotional body expression particularly powerful and probably on its own a compelling reason to seei this show. The live music is provided by percussionist Haruna Komatsu and singer/guitar strummer Shamira Turner who also embodies the fat cat hierarchy of boss, police officer, major and presidents.  The lead is the convincing Milagros Tamsin Clarke - child of the streets and the protagonist who sets out o

Radouan Mrziga is the performer. The producing centre the Moussem Nomadic Arts Centre -  Mrziga is a Moroccan born,  Brussels based dancer whose show called "55" is a solo dance performance conceptual in nature around the topic of the human body as an instrument of measurement.  6 ancient cassette players are placed around the dance area and  are started by the dancer at various cues in the dance sequence Intermittently -simultaneously recorded linear soundtracks . The sounds are indistinct music as if from the kasbah as if played on a poorly a tuned car radio in a taxi.  This continues sequentially "around" the space for the duration of the performance with long pauses of silence in between.  It suggests a middle eastern or Arabic environment. The "dance" consists of a routine of, at first inexplicable, physical jerks executed in a pattern, with rippling arabesque movements in the arms as if the dancer were playing a game of incomplete hopscotch.  As th

Its a wet Februany Saturday in Newlyn Cornwall and dynamic Cornwall youth dance group All Boys Dance and Panta Rei Danse Teater,  the Norwegian dance company  are about to perform the outcomes of the ground breaking mini-residency on the Wharves and in The Centre in Newlyn.   Panta Rei Danse Teater are now regular visitors to Cornwall thanks to Carn to Cove - they have performed  "I Wish Her Well"; "House Gran Nabo",  "We Fiction and Private Rites" in spaces from the Lisekerret Centre, to the Guildhall St Ives   .  This time they  performed with a 3  male dancers and two brilliant live musicians cellist (Gustavo Tavares)  and pianist/composer (Sverre Indris Joner)  on stage a work called "Lullaby" Lullaby explores the prickly relationships that men and boys develop in their friendship groups....joshing, messing about, facing off, fighting.     The male subject matter of the dance "Lullaby" was the springboard for Rob Mennear and Suz

Fagin’s Twist is a high energy, dynamic dance performance of a new narrative dance in two acts which investigates the characters and reconsiders the perspectives of Dickens’s Oliver Twist.   This is a touring piece a co-production of The Place and commissioned by Theatre Bristol, East London Dance, Pavilion Dance South West, and Dance East. The Barbican’s programmer has identified the quality of the offer, integrated it into the outreach education programme in Plymouth and the region with impressive results and sold out to a diverse audience for work which would otherwise be difficult to access The experience of the choreographer Tony Adiguin and the company members  in commercial dance project was evident in the highly rehearsed and finished quality, extremely high production values, immaculate acrobatics and individual skills  with simple lighting and impressive mobile set which made the project constantly visually arresting.    This is not to diminish the creative thought put i

Concert at St Mary’s Church, Penzance  14 th January 2017 West and rural  Cornwall had a humdinger of a musical weekend.  You could not get better concerts in some of the great cities.  First the superb Craig Ogden, the classical guitarist born in Australia, who is now one of the best exponents of his instrument in the UK returned for the fourth time (!)  to Portscatho  to give another  rammed recital for the discriminating Roseland Music Society. Second a Symphony Concert  in St Mary’s Church.Penzance  of the Music of that revolutionary romantic Hector Berlioz which included  his Symphony Fantastique and (one of my favourite concert works for soprano and orchestra) Nuits d’Ete.     This concert clashed with a pianist playing at Truro Three Arts – Cornwall is not short of musical highlights if you have the determination to unveil them.  All would do better to post on Cornwall Music Networks free website to encourage new audience. I missed the Opening Hungarian Dance, pace t