To hear Christmas Champions
visit the Late
Junction website and click 'Listen Again'
Christmas Champions was originally written for BBC Radio 3’s Late Junction. Now a live multimedia show has been commissioned by The Sage Gateshead and will be touring in December 2007. BBC Folk Award winning duo Chris Wood and Hugh Lupton are joined by The English Acoustic Collective and Olivia Ross in a performance that mixes the recorded voices of past generations with ritual theatre, seasonal song, storytelling and music in a celebration of England’s most enduring midwinter custom: The Mummers Play.
The show combines the music of midwinter, both choral and instrumental, with new songs and re-workings of established carols, worked into field recordings of Herbie Smith's reminiscences of mumming in the Medway valley at the turn of the last century. Hugh Lupton's narrative constantly contextualises the music and the singers reciprocate, weaving and compounding imagery, parable and drama. It is the true, native, vernacular mystery play and this performance, directed by Tim Dalling, brings it vividly to life.
Photo
courtesy of EFDSS
December 2007 Tour Dates:
Dec 10 The
Sage Gateshead
Dec 11 Darlington
Arts Centre
Dec 12 Birmingham
MAC
Dec 13 Bridgwater
Arts Centre
Dec 14 Ruskin
Mill College, Nailsworth
Dec 15 Marine
Theatre, Lyme Regis
Dec 16 Norwich
Arts Centre
De 18 Barbican
Cinema, London
Dec 19 West
End Centre, Aldershot
Dec 20 Huntingdon
Hall, Worcester
Dec 21 Bury
Met
Dec 22 The
Sage Gateshead
Dec 23 The
Sage Gateshead
The original radio show can still be heard via BBC Radio 3's 'Listen Again'
facility - click
here.
Photo courtesy of EFDSS
info@englishacousticcollective.org.uk
Photo by Simon Evans
Photo by Simon Evans
Hugh Lupton is one of Britain’s leading storytellers. His interest in traditional music, in street theatre, in live poetry, and in myth, resulted in him becoming a professional storyteller in 1981. In 1985 he formed the Company of Storytellers with Ben Haggarty and Pomme Clayton. Over the last ten years, Hugh has worked in collaboration with singer and composer Helen Chadwick, with violinist Chris Wood, with percussionist Rick Wilson, and with artist Liz McGowan, widening and challenging the possibilities of the form.
Chris Wood has his roots in the traditional folk music of Britain and his response to this rich inheritance has been to compose new works to add to that repertoire. He has lectured on composition, interpretation and arrangement at Newcastle University, Goldsmiths, the Guildhall and the Irish World Music Centre at the University of Limerick. In 1998 he founded The English Acoustic Collective String School.
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