Experience dynamic classical music theatre at close quarters in the great tradition of British sea songs.
This highly entertaining and beautifully delivered piece of classical music theatre weaves in old favourites and hidden gems delighting audiences at the Fishguard International Music Festival, Ripon International Festival and making a fringe hit at the Buxton Festival.
STORYLINE: Young Tom Garrick is is at home on his farm by the sea when a mysterious sailor appears with a curious message for him. Tom goes down to the coast and begins a high musical adventure in which he’s swept away to sea in search of a long-lost brother, love and pirate gold.
SONG TEXTS/POEMS BY: Robert Louis Stevenson, Thomas Hardy. Shakespeare, Walter de la Mare, Robert Graves and John Masefield.
SONGS BY: Gurney, Head, Keel, Finzi, Gibbs, Stanford, Handel, Sterndale Bennet, Warlock and Ireland.
STAGE REQUIREMENTS: a piano and a venue with good vocal acoustics.
RUNNING TIME: 1 hour and 15 minutes
The show is available: for music festivals, literary festivals, theatres, concert halls and community music settings. Email waverleymusic@live.co.uk or phone 07974397771 to enquire about booking An Act of Piracy.
Richard Parry is a remarkably versatile theatre performer and cultural campaigner. He studied singing privately with Mark Wildman, head of voice at the Royal Academy of Music and has gone on to perform in opera and song recital in UK and Europe with The English Bach Festival, Clonter Opera and Opera North and appear as a baritone recitalist at international music festivals. As an actor and writer in British theatre and television he’s won Time Out, London and Edinburgh Fringe awards. He’s made work as an artist in National Museum of Wales and National Eisteddfod of Wales and was commissioned by Newport City Council in 2017 to make new public art works in the city centre celebrating Newport Chartist contributions to world democracy. Richard has been a guest speaker at international academic conferences on culture and arts, including giving an address at Oxford University on the philosophy of religion, and has convened conference/seminars on culture, philosophy and participation at Cambridge University and Welsh Universities. In 2017 he led the three week walk from Yorkshire through Wales for the international environmental flagship movement The Eden Project, singing to communities in the landscape as he travelled and celebrating Wales and the importance of community participation for wellbeing and combatting the environmental challenges facing human culture. Richard is the founder and creative director of the Coleridge in Wales Festival, a celebration of the international importance of the Welsh cultural life in questions of culture, economy and sustainability. He has led the Welsh Government funded ‘Landscapes of Faith’ project and during lockdown established a New Library and cultural centre initiative at Llantwit Major. He lives in South Wales.
MORE ABOUT OUR CLASSICAL MUSIC THEATRE SHOWS
Coleridge Cymru offer a series of classical music theatre shows by R M Parry exploring a culture of relationship, economy and community.
An Act of Piracy begins the recital series with a comic tale of a self-centred young man caught up in a an 18th century pirate romp around the British colonies of the West Indies. This pieces of entertaining music theatre tells the story with classic British sea songs and only at the end of the show does the piece’s hero begin to reflect on his deep connection to others around him.
More details of the show here: An Act of Piracy – classical music theatre
Maud is a classical music theatre show that develops this series of dramatic recitals with a gripping performance of Tennyson’s great poem in cultural and economic crisis of the mid 19th century with music by Arthur Somervell.
More details of the show here: Maud – classical music theatre
Poet’s Love – postcards from Robert Schumann brings to life for audiences the internationally famous song cycle “Dichterliebe” (poet’s love). The two part show begins with an illustrated musical lecture introducing Heinrich Heine’s astonishing poetry set by Schumann as a love token for his fiancée Clara. Following an interval the 16 songs are presented in dramatic performance. Through the turmoil of love Heine looks into the roots of a society desperately and dangerously seeking a new identity and renewal.
More details of the show here: Poet’s Love – classical music theatre
To discuss An Act of Piracy, Maud , Poet’s Love and the work of Coleridge Cymru please get in touch here.