Pirate & Parrot
Artist:
Red Earth Theatre with Gareth Berliner and Kiruna Stamell
A Pirate so small and a Parrot so tall, it’s a wonder they ever met. Performers and comedians, Gareth Berliner and Kiruna Stamell are fed up in isolation, so they take to the high seas telling tales of lovable rogue characters, Cutlass Kate Pirate and Henry Livingstone Parrot. Filmed in their kitchen, on a mobile phone, these salty-sweet stories will entertain children and adults alike. More fun than a barrel of fish. Enjoy 4 family-friendly, fun-packed episodes!
Castaways from Wirksworth
Artist:
DJ Su-ki & Seni Seneviratne
DJ Su-ki will be casting away 3 local guests over the weekend. On Saturday DJ Su-ki is talking to Seni Seneviratne, who will be talking about her career as a published poet and introducing her varied selection of music.
Interview with Tony Hill
Artist:
Tony Hill & Bill Lounds
Festival trustee Bill Lounds has been involved in planning the visual arts content of the Festival since 2000, we invited him to share some highlights.
“I have lots of memories and decided to pick out the key stages in developing the commissioning programme and our efforts to convert the old Parish Rooms into an exciting venue each year. In 2010 we commissioned Tony Hill to produce a film installation, The Doors, a unique and memorable commission that has remained a Festival favourite for many visitors. Its success gave us the confidence to go on and carry out more ambitious exhibitions in future years. My conversation with Tony Hill looks at how we achieved this along with his motivation for the film and what he has done since then.”
SEA & The Pool
Your chance to watch two of Tony Hill’s films… SEA is a meditation on the constancy of the rhythms and ever-changing movement of the sea as waves break on the shore at different locations in Cornwall. It is a hypnotic new perspective on a timeless manifestation of the forces of nature.
‘The Pool’ presents a video fresco of underwater images of swimmers moving across all the surfaces of a space. Curious distortions occur and the complete loss of the edges of the frame alters the way the video is perceived. The gentle underwater soundtrack adds to the immersive impression.
Hill Live - a film montage from 2018 Festival performance
A film montage of the live show interpreting the breakthrough “Hill” exhibition, featuring stories of life on Middleton hill. Original photography by Kate Bellis – live promenade performance devised by Debi Hedderwick. One of the highlights of Festival 2018!
Wirksworth Photo Friends Montage
Wirksworth Photo Friends are a group of keen local photographers who formed on Facebook in April 2020. They’ve been sharing their images online throughout lockdown, responding to a different theme every week. This film contains just a selection of some 2000 photos that have been shared so far – group members have chosen some of their favourite images from all the contribtions. There are also contributions from Wirksworth Junior School’s Online Camera Club.
The music has been composed and performed by Robert Dimbleby. Let us know which are your favourite photos!
Interview With Denis O'Connor
Artist:
Denis O'Connor & Bill Lounds
A conversation with Denis O Connor, a celebrated sculptor living and working in Wirksworth, he has also been a lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Derby. In 2003 Denis organised a group of students to create a Sculpture Trail at the National Stone Centre, and the Festival supported him making a permanent work as part of this project, which you can still see today.
In 2019 Denis curated our main exhibition, Made in Wirksworth – the inspiration behind this year’s film commission which you can also see during our Online Festival.
Wirksworth Festival Trustee, Bill Lounds speaks to Denis about the Sculpture Trail and the two further pieces Denis built in 2004 and 2005. These sculptures gave a permanent legacy of the extent to which the Festival was able to change the face of Wirksworth and commission new work each year.
Barmy Dale (Part 1)
Artist:
Barmy Dale Productions
Radio sitcom first broadcast on BBC Radio in July 2020.
Starring Juliet Howland, Camilla Simson, Stuart Wheeldon & Martin Skellern
Across the globe, the population of the world is in lockdown. In the fictional Derbyshire town of Barmy Dale the circumstances are no different. Follow the lives of Keith and Gracie from number 46 Dale Lane and rivals Dan and Sharon from the pub across the road as they cope with lockdown life and get up to all sorts of hilarious shenanigans!
Mr Dawson's Ghost
Artist:
Tony Jones & Chris Webb
By flame and firelight, somewhere in the hills above Wirksworth, local writer Tony Jones tells the unsettling tale of a dead father’s unwanted return.
Will the tale be as dark as the surrounding night? Or will it turn towards the light?
A fabulous film made especially for Wirksworth Festival Online 2020 by Tony Jones & Chris Webb.
Birdsong & Other Stories
Artist:
Carol Fieldhouse, Mohammadreza Behjat & Nigel Corbett
Birdsong and Other Stories is a collaboration between singer-songwriter, Carol Fieldhouse, santoor player, Mohammadreza Behjat and fiddle player Nigel Corbett. Together they bring you three spacious songs; one conjuring the former battlefields of Northern France, one finding connections with people in the Middle East and a solo song for the Earth.
A stunning session recorded especially for Wirksworth Festival Online 2020!
Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter - rúnian
Artist:
Ciderhouse Rebellion & Jessie Summerhayes
Immerse yourself in one of Jessie Summerhayes’s cinematic folk-tone-poems woven between and around the spontaneously created music of improv folk duo The Ciderhouse Rebellion – master accordionist Murray Grainger and Jessie’s father ‘Paganini of the folk world’ fiddle player Adam Summerhayes. Jessie’s words are steeped in the same history and folklore that flows through the music of her father, inhabiting England’s protagonists and landscape with her fresh and timeless voice. The three artists become a trio – Words of a Fiddler’s Daughter – to present this new collection, rúnian. Buy the book/CD here:
Three Slices
Artist:
Mark Gwynne Jones PsychicBread
Mark Gwynne Jones presents a selection of recordings, live performances, and previously unreleased footage especially for Wirskworth Festival Online. PsychicBread are a five piece with origins in the Peak District, London, Dubai, and Moscow who met through gigs, jams and a shared love of the extraordinary. Featuring the surreal narratives of Mark Gwynne Jones (‘Inspired…’ The Guardian ‘Astonishing…’ The Daily Mail), PsychicBread conjure a world of truth and illusion. Winners of four Festival Fringe Awards their performance draws on elements of storytelling, vaudeville and psychedelic-folk. It’s dramatic, funny and at times startlingly sensitive.
Comedy : Poetry Cabaret
Artist:
Elvis McGonagall, Roger McGough & Shazia Mirza
Stand-up poet, comedian and broadcaster, armchair revolutionary and walking shortbread tin, Elvis McGonagall resides at The Graceland Caravan Park somewhere in the back of beyond where he scribbles satirical verse whilst drinking malt whisky and listening to Johnny Cash. Elvis has made a special recording for our Online Festival from his caravan! Followed by piece from Roger McGough and Little Machine previously seen at the Festival and an exclusive set recorded for us from award-winning comedian, Shazia Mirza.
This event contains adult themes and language.
Climax Blues Band
Enjoy two great tracks recorded in the studio – Flood of Emotion and Wrong Time. Climax Blues Band were founded in the 60s, by Colin Cooper, Climax Blues Band has always focused on its roots, a unique combination of jazz and blues. After 50 years, 21 albums, the classic world-wide hit “Couldn’t Get It Right” and tours of the UK, Europe and the US, Climax Blues Band have just released “Hands of Time“, a new album of original material and still playing the blues in a creative way that has always been synonymous with their name.
The Newcranes
In the heady days of the early Nineties, it was hard to find a band with a better live reputation than The Newcranes. Energetic and inspiring, their intoxicating mix of Slavonic-tinged thrash-folk-punk thrilled audiences across Europe and fans still speak of incendiary shows and no-compromise recordings. Tasting chart success as label mates with The Levellers, supporting Bob Dylan, tours with Saw Doctors, Stiff Little Fingers and The Mission. Headlining Camden Palace with Skunk Anansie supporting them and then… silence. For years, the legend has grown, the stories have spread, and the clamour for a comeback has grown. Finally, after 25 years, a new chapter has begun. The Newcranes have recorded this set for Wirksworth Festival in lockdown, the perfect end to our Saturday night!
