SUMMER 2023
Tickets for all shows are now live
The Music of Trees
Presented by Geoff Robb
Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes, including a 20 minute interval.
Suitable for all.
charity. comedy. family. live music. opera. play. poetry. storytelling.
Join Geoff Robb, winner of the Brighton Fringe Live Music Award, for an evening of magical storytelling and virtuoso guitar that promises to transport you out into the woods. If you love nature and enjoy beautiful acoustic guitar music then this is the show for you!
Inspired by the wonder of the natural world, 'The Music of Trees' weaves together storytelling, woodland folklore and mythology with a suite of original compositions featuring Geoff's signature blend of classical, jazz, Celtic and Spanish influences.
A master of the acoustic guitar with an intricate, richly harmonic style, Geoff has performed to audiences across the UK and Europe, at venues ranging from Buckingham Palace and The House of Commons to Glastonbury Festival. His show, 'The Music of Trees', earned him rave reviews at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe.
REVIEWS:
★★★★ Broadway Baby
★★★★ The Wee Review
★★★★ Arts Reviews Edinburgh
“A masterful fusion of classical and folk that soothes the soul” Brighton and Hove News
Sam Lee: Solstice Folk
Presented by Britten Pears Arts
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes, no interval
Suitable for all.
charity. comedy. family. live music. opera. play. poetry. storytelling.
As the sun sets on the solstice weekend, the Mercury-nominated artist brings a special performance to the magical setting of the forested amphitheatre at Thorington.
There could be no more wonderful setting for an evening with Sam Lee – whose work and craft are so infused with nature and folklore – than the idyllic woodland theatre at Thorington. Events there proceed whatever the weather, and while the trees offer some protection from sun and rain, it is exhilarating to experience music in such close connection with the natural world.
Sam – a former Snape residency artist and a much-loved member of the Britten Pears Arts family – will be coming straight from his Summer Solstice gig at Stonehenge, the perfect prelude to this light late evening of heart-warming music.
Starboard Home: An Evening of Sea Shanties and Songs.
Presented by The Silver Darlings
Running time: 2 hours, including a 20 minute interval.
Suitable for all.
charity. comedy. family. live music. opera. play. poetry. storytelling.
The Silver Darlings are an acclaimed all-female shanty crew hailing from Southend, Essex. Making their return to Thorington Theatre for the second time, these girls have performed all around the UK, including some iconic venues such as the Cutty Sark and the Golden Hinde as well as at a number of international shanty festivals.
Their debut album Maiden Voyage was very well received, obtaining a four-star review in Folk Magazine, and the girls are working on their second album Whaling Women which will be released soon.
Lively and energetic, these girls will regale you with their beautiful harmonies, mixing traditional shanties with other songs of the sea and topped off with a heady dose of humour. You'll want to join in and sing along!
Supporting them are the FelixStowaways. The band formed in 2014 after ‘skipper’ Norman put an advert in the local free magazine seeking others who may be interested in starting a shanty band in Felixstowe. The rest, as they say, is history. The band sing shanties, sea songs and songs of the sea, a capella, as they would have been sung on board ship.
They perform at local events, charity gigs, festivals, carnivals and private functions. They are regulars at the prestigious Harwich International Shanty Festival, and made their ninth appearance there in October 2024. They have also travelled to Leeuwarden in the Netherlands on two occasions to perform at ShantyCafe events, and have hosted four of their own ShantyCafes in Felixstowe.
Dark Fairytales
presented by Viktor Wynd
Running time: 7pm to 8.50pm including interval
Suitable for ages 8+
charity. comedy. family. live music. opera. play. poetry. storytelling.
Join master storyteller Viktor Wynd in the heart of the fairytale world of our woodland theatre and listen to him telling tales at bedtime. Be warned these are not the Ladybird or Disney versions and may not be suitable for the most tender ears.
This evening Mr. Wynd will tell some of his favourite tales collected on expeditions around the world, from nasty Germans chopping up people and eating them, to disgusting, macabre and delightful tales from Borneo. Learn of the birth of the leeches, the reason mosquitos are always buzzing around human ears, why it is best not to suckle caterpillars – or indeed strange babies - and something about bedbugs that might give you nightmares.
Giant octopuses, man-eating pigs and a buried moon from Papua New Guinea, or possibly shapeshifting magical creatures from Wales, the Good People of Ireland, the Sea Merrow, a Scottish Selkie, Scandinavian trolls and an illicit love affair with an Ice Bear.
The tales will be accompanied by live music from local legends The Blackshore Collective
Viktor Wynd is proprietor of London’s eponymous (nay infamous) Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History, and Chancellor of the pataphysical Last Tuesday Society.
He has spent the last 25 years telling stories to audiences across the globe. Fascinated by traditional fairy tales, his repertoire includes tales from the Brothers Grimm, Arabian Nights, Scandinavia, Russia, Italy, France, Ireland, Africa, Papua New Guinea and North America – so far.
He is the author of The Cabinet of Wonders (Prestel 2014) and The UnNatural History Museum (Prestel 2020), and his next book Dark Fairy Tales will be published by Prestel/Random House in 2025.
In 2020 he was the subject of a major exhibition, Viktor Wynd's UnNatural History Museum at The National Maritime Museum. When not leading expeditions to New Guinea, West Africa and the Amazon, he lives with his family, ever-growing menagerie, overflowing botanical and other collections just outside Halesworth. www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org
Stories & Shanties
presented by The Silver Darlings and Mike Warner
Running time: 7.30pm to 9.30pm including interval
Suitable for all
charity. comedy. family. live music. opera. play. poetry. storytelling.
The Silver Darlings are an all-female sea shanty crew hailing from Southend-on-Sea in Essex. They sing shanties, songs of the sea and ditties nautical. They love the story-telling aspect to shanty-singing and are passionately committed to ensuring that these songs remain in the public domain and are not lost at sea. Having performed both nationally and internationally, these girls actively encourage audience participation and never fail to bring the shanty party.
Mike Warner is a consultant seafood writer, storyteller and artisan fishmonger. Mike grew up close to Felixstowe Ferry, on the Suffolk Heritage Coast where he developed a profound love of the sea, the fishing industry and a deep-seated passion and affinity for seafood.
In more recent years, Mike has embedded himself in the UK fishing industry, to learn from the coalface and connect the producer to the consumer via ’Net to Plate’ storytelling.
He is an active member of the Guild of Food Writers and his blog ‘A Passion for Seafood’ was twice shortlisted in the Guild’s prestigious yearly awards.
Mike also advises chefs, hospitality, consumers, industry and the media on British seafood sustainability.
