Substance & Shadow Theatre Company "Walking with God" St Nicholas Priory 19-29 November 2019

Walking with God
(Photography: Matt Austin)

From Whitechapel to Exeter Digby Mental Asylum

This autumn Substance and Shadow offer up a spine chilling slice of immersive theatre with Walking With God, a dark original play by Midge and Rosie Mullin set against the backdrop of the terrifying Jack The Ripper murders that took place in Whitechapel in 1888.

Centring around the investigation of a genuine Ripper suspect who was incarcerated at EXETER DIGBY MENTAL ASYLUM, Walking With God is a reimagining of the frequently told Ripper story. Exploring elements of alleged corruption and deceit the play provides a unique perspective on the unsolved murders that took place in 1888 and serves up a spine chilling twist in the inimitable style of Substance and Shadow Theatre!

Proudly funded by Exeter City Council, this intimate stylised theatre show for adults will be performed at Exeter's iconic St Nicholas Priory (Exeter's oldest building and home to Benedictine Monks for over 400 years) Prepare to be thrilled with an eerie mix of theatre, burlesque, original soundscapes and projections!

Midge Mullin
(Photography: Matt Austin)

Substance & Shadow Theatre Company
St Nicholas Priory
Tuesday 19 November 7&9pm
Wednesday 20 November & 7pm
Thursday 21 November 7&9pm
Wednesday-Friday 27-29 November 7&9pm
"WALKING WITH GOD"
Writers: Midge Mullin & Rosie Mullin
Starring: Midge Mullin, Nathan Simpson
Tickets: £10
Online Booking: TicketSource 

La Vie en Rose Topsham Brewery & Taproom Friday 18 October 2019

LA VIE EN ROSE
Topsham Brewery Haven Banks Exeter
Friday 18 October 8-10pm

Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grapelli

The heartfelt wail of the blues; the sultry heat of the campfire; the crazy swirl of the bal musette, all fused together ​with virtuosity and passion in the melting pot of 1930’s Paris: the result was gypsy jazz.

Now ‘LA VIE EN ROSE’ play this exuberant, toe-tapping music with a swing and joie-de-vivre as fresh today ​as when Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli first conjured it from the back streets of Pigalle.

' L A V I E  E N  R O S E ' . . . five musicians with wide-ranging individual backgrounds in classical music, traditional jazz, rock, blues, country, ragtime and roots, pulled together by the shared pleasure of gypsy jazz and hot swing.

David Jones, Rebecca Willson, Nick White,
Yann Mahdjoub & Laurie Light

After the closure of our original and much-loved venue 'The Globe' we have searched for another equally good and welcoming home, and we think we have finally found it at Topsham Brewery and Taproom on Exeter Quay.

There is also a monthly jam session and the specific dates will be announced on Facebook: Gypsy Jazz Sessions Exeter.

Stephen Beville "Musical Painters" Piano Recital St Margaret's Church Topsham Sunday 29 September 2019 Press Release from Stephen Beville

Musical Painters

(An afternoon of Piano Music inspired by Painter and Picture)

STEPHEN BEVILLE - PIANO

There have always existed relationships between music and the picture . . .

Raffaello Sanzio da Rubino
"Lo Sposalizio"

From the perspective of composers, these relationships intensified on a personal level in the 19th century, in part, due to new-found, and often hard-won, social emancipation and freedoms of expression. For we are indebted to that adventurous musical pioneer and visionary, Franz Liszt, for providing a foundation and template for further explorations in this recital.

Michaelangelo
"Il Pensieroso"

Although the most celebrated example of this musico-pictorial relationship is perhaps Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition it was felt necessary for reasons of length and space to omit this 'elephant in the room'. However, the connection between music and the visual arts, especially painting, is made palpable and sometimes explicit - albeit in different ways - in some of the works being presented in this programme.

Liszt's example - as illustrated by his own pieces "Sposalizio" (Marriage) and "Il Pensieroso" (The Thinker) from his 'Annees de Pelerinage', Book II (Italy) are only our point of departure.

Ben Nicholson
"Still Life" 1932

And, whilst we may begin with a direct, tangible relationship, musical response or expression clearly related to or inspired by specific artworks (be they by Raphael or Michelangelo), we are confronted with increasing 'abstractions' in the cycles of miniatures by Grieg and Prokofiev.

Piet Mondrian
"New York City I" 1942

Here, any obvious analogies with the visual arts have been obscured save for their titles; respectively "Poetic Tone Pictures" and "Visions Fugitives". Perhaps they may be regarded thus as 'fantasy' paintings, fleeting escapades, musical ditties of their composer's imaginations.

For my own responses to two 'abstract' 20th century painters, both the example of their lives and work coalesce to form small-scale musical tributes – "Still Life" for Ben Nicholson and Piet Mondrian in "New York", prefigured by an introduction. Finally Britten returns us to the world outside with quasi-picture-postcard evocations from his Holiday Diary.

Piano: Stephen Beville

Stephen Beville

St. Margarets Church Topsham

Sunday 29 September 3:30 pm
MUSICAL PAINTERS
Piano: Stephen Beville
Franz Liszt: "Années de Pèlerinage" (Years of Pilgrimage)
"Deuxième Année: Italie" (Second Year: Italy)1 "Sposalizio" (Marriage)
Inspired by the oil painting "Marriage of the Virgin"
Chiesa di San Francesco, Città di Castello
Raffaello Sanzio da Rubino (Raphael) 1504
2 "Il Pensieroso" (The Thinker)
Inspired by the marble sculpture "Il Pensieroso"

Raffaello Sanzio da Rubino
"Lo Sposalizio"

Tomb of  Lorenzo de Medici (Duke of Urbino)
Michaelangelo di Lodovico Vuonarroti Simoni 1524-34
Edvard Grieg: "Poetic Tone Pictures" Op 3
Sergei Prokofiev : "Visions Fugitives" Op 22
Stephen Beville: "Two Painters"
(Piet Mondrian and Ben Nicholson)
Benjamin Britten: Holiday Diary, Op 5
Refreshments available during interval.

Tickets: £12 at the door (advance £10)

Topsham Bookshop: 01392 877895

Online booking: TicketSource

Stephen Beville "Musical Paintings" Piano Recital St Margaret's Church Topsham Sunday 29 September 2019

MUSICAL PAINTINGS 

AN AFTERNOON OF PIANO MUSIC

INSPIRED BY PAINTING AND PICTURE

STEPHEN BEVILLE - PIANO 

ST. MARGARETS CHURCH, TOPSHAM
SUNDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER, 15:30 PM

Programme:

Liszt - Sposalizio (After Raphael's The Marriage of the Virgin)
            Il Pensieroso (After Michelangelo's The Thinker)
Grieg - Poetic Tone Pictures, Op 3
Prokofiev - Visions Fugitives, Op 22

Beville - Two Painters (Mondrian & Nicholson) _world premiere_
Britten - Holiday Diary, Op 5

Tickets £10 available in advance online from www.ticketsource.co.uk
or from The Topsham Bookshop (tel. 01392 877895) or £12 at the door.