A Feast Of Entertainment At Lyth In May

1st May 2006

Lyth Arts Centre continues to bring a huge variety of high quality live entertainment to Caithness. May is no exception with a fantastic variety of drama, music and comedy with nationally and internationally respected groups coming to the county.

Drama
Tuesday 2 May 2006
Realing and Writhing presents 'Good Reason' www.reelingwrithing.com

A development from and including Mosaic by Anthony Minghella with new writing by poet Elspeth Murray

Director: Katherine Morley
Designer and Producer: Tim Nunn
Performers: Gillian Lees and another female actor as yet uncast

Mosaic is a mesmeric portrayal of one woman's human experience, sometimes joyful, always intriguing, occasionally cutting. How does she cope reflecting on seeing a loved one in an unfavourable light for the first time? How does she cope with love?

Good Reason continues that story - allowing the audience to discover more about the central character and push deeper into her complex emotional history. At its heart, the show remains a simple story of deceit and loss.

In 1992 Anthony Minghella (writer of Truly Madly Deeply and director of The English Patient) wrote the poem Mosaic as the text and soundtrack to a performance for two women - one speaking, one dancing. It was part of a continuing collaboration with the choreographer Jonathan Lunn and was performed by the actor Juliet Stevenson and dancer Lauren Potter.

Mosaic is structured for a physical interpretation whilst Minghella's beautiful text allows the audience a direct identification to the central character, as she processes denial and anger about being betrayal by the men in her life.

Reeling & Writhing have brought their own theatrical interpretation to Mosaic and in addition, interwoven elements of the piece into their newly commissioned work Good Reason. For Good Reason we have taken the story and characterisation in Mosaic and developed them with new writing by Edinburgh based Elspeth Murray, into a full theatrical production. This production has a strong physical language; our physically adept actors deliver the story through honed words and deeds. The text for Good Reason is not exclusively poetic verse, although the overall impact is poetic. Good Reason is storytelling through text and performance.

Drama
Thursday 11 May 2006
Dogstar theatre presents 'The Seer' www.dogstartheatre.co.uk

A development from and including Mosaic by Anthony Minghella with new writing by poet Elspeth Murray

Director: Katherine Morley
Designer and Producer: Tim Nunn
Performers: Gillian Lees and another female actor as yet uncast

Mosaic is a mesmeric portrayal of one woman's human experience, sometimes joyful, always intriguing, occasionally cutting. How does she cope reflecting on seeing a loved one in an unfavourable light for the first time? How does she cope with love?

Good Reason continues that story - allowing the audience to discover more about the central character and push deeper into her complex emotional history. At its heart, the show remains a simple story of deceit and loss.

In 1992 Anthony Minghella (writer of Truly Madly Deeply and director of The English Patient) wrote the poem Mosaic as the text and soundtrack to a performance for two women - one speaking, one dancing. It was part of a continuing collaboration with the choreographer Jonathan Lunn and was performed by the actor Juliet Stevenson and dancer Lauren Potter.

Mosaic is structured for a physical interpretation whilst Minghella's beautiful text allows the audience a direct identification to the central character, as she processes denial and anger about being betrayal by the men in her life.

Reeling & Writhing have brought their own theatrical interpretation to Mosaic and in addition, interwoven elements of the piece into their newly commissioned work Good Reason. For Good Reason we have taken the story and characterisation in Mosaic and developed them with new writing by Edinburgh based Elspeth Murray, into a full theatrical production. This production has a strong physical language; our physically adept actors deliver the story through honed words and deeds. The text for Good Reason is not exclusively poetic verse, although the overall impact is poetic. Good Reason is storytelling through text and performance.

Saturday 13 May 2006
Folk Music
Swap In Concert www.swapmusic.info

(Scandinavian/Trad Music)
The Swedish music meets the Celtic tradition in SW�Ps music. There is a significant kinship which unites them, with differences that enrich it. The traditional material is often blended with dizzyingly beautiful own work; all four members being headstrong song writers with talents out of the ordinary.

In the summer 1995 these four bumped into each other for the first time. The meeting was electric and confusing. Something happened in this joint venture of four, something that simply had to be further explored. The name of the band, SW�P, came quite naturally, even if its spelling lifted one or two eyebrows in the air, not in the least in the UK. It is all about exchange: exchanging experiences, telling stories to each other and swapping places, possibly to get an even better view. But Sw�p is not just a mixture, it is no disparate mix of various fancy ideas, Sw�p is something quite new and quite unique, and highly built upon its own unique entity.

Nine years later, they still keep the capability to charge their music with the kind of energy, that have made journalists more often than not, refer them to the world of rock'n'roll rather than to the one of folk music. This is a kind of energy that has brought them to a wide range of places around the world on never-ending tours. Frequent visits to England and Sweden of course but also to Germany, Denmark, Italy, Switserland ,Belgium,USA and Japan.

Sunday 21 May 2006
Jazz
Anita Wardell www.anitawardell.com

Anita Wardell and her quartet perform an array of timeless classics by Cole Porter, Rogers/Hart and Rogers/Hammerstein amongst others. Anita's beautiful renditions have enchanted and entertained audiences for nearly ten years and she is celebrated for her vocal improvisation. Combined with this is a vast and extensive knowledge of bebop and standards, making her one of Europe and the United Kingdom's most viable talents. Anita's irrepressible performances offer the true jazz lover an opportunity to relax and unwind in the confidence of her compelling vocals. An opportunity not to be missed.

Monday 29 May 2006
Comedy
Ophaboom presents CASANOVA www.ophaboom.co.uk/

The lives and loves of a legend
In their latest untrue and comic reworking of a classic legend, Ophaboom take on the infamous, scandalous and scurrilous character of Casanova.

Using their unique style of hilarious half-masked madness, this internationally touring company present the story as you've never known it before. Thwarted love, unpaid debts and daring deception all collide spectacularly as Ophaboom take liberties with history.

This multi-talented group has been described as the theatrical answer to The Simpsons, with their last tour Robin Hood being named in Time Out's Top Ten shows of the year. They can always be relied on to bring laughter to all ages at their shows with their blend of bawdy physicality and witty word play.

"criminally insane comedy" TimeOut (Critics Choice)

"one of the cleverest and most screamingly funny versions of the legend you could ever hope to see" Whats On (5 stars)