“...perfect balance of folk tunes and experimental styles, all while celebrating folk culture”
In the red velvet interior of the Market Theatre, on the evening of July 3rd. Weirdshire crafted a night of laughter, emotive reflection, and a celebration of traditional folk tales and songs. With ambient music between events and projected videos on stage to visually entertain, every aspect of the event appealed to the audience!
The first musician to take to the stage was Mark Stevenson, Ledbury’s own folk troubadour. Accompanied by a rapid rumbling drum, he sang enchanting tales that saw many of the audience members tapping along. Stevenson also displayed his skill with a penny whistle during a song called ‘Strangeness’, as well as performing his humorous ‘Ledbury Rap’ that tickled the audience. Not only did he play a range of instruments, but Stevenson also played with the emotions of the audience: he evoked sadness with the hauntingly dark song ‘Dangerous Times’, and amusement with his use of light-hearted rhyming slang in a song about herrings.
After a twenty minute interval that allowed the audience to absorb the experiences offered in the first half, Kate Gathercole and Mark Waters began their mixture of melodies. The thrumming double bass and swirling violin seemed to have their own human voices when complementing Gathercole’s singing. The musicians created a collage of sounds, layering each instrument up gradually and adding a sound board for abstract detail. I really loved ‘Derby Ram’; both musicians described it as a comment on the commodification of nature for our commercialised society. A different song was a comment on the oppression of women during the witch trials of the 1600s; I found it very interesting to hear the meaning behind the songs. Overall, their performance was beautiful, combining whimsical music of our culture with lessons of profound meaning in society.
The final performance, by Sharron Kraus, involved Welsh folk stories of the Mabinogi between songs based on these tales, such as ‘My Friend’s Enemy’ and ‘The Hunter’. The first few songs were sung with her guitar, but as the folk tales progressed, so did the music as she used a loop pedal to involve additional instruments near the end. The screen projections on the stage, adding illustrations to the stories she recited, worked well. I found this to be an appropriate closing event as I learned a lot about Welsh culture delivered in a calm and soothing manner.
Weirdshire chose these artists extremely well, concocting the perfect balance of folk tunes and experimental styles, all while celebrating folk culture! This is the second time I have witnessed the work of Weirdshire, and it certainly will not be the last.
About the reviewer
Alice Drury
Alice Drury is a recent ex-student of English Literature, Medieval History, and Classical Civilisations at Hereford Sixth Form College. Based in Ledbury, Alice has volunteered in the Poetry House and currently takes part in writing for her college newspaper. In her free time, she enjoys reading and comparing Ancient Greek theatre to modern plays, inspiring her to write her own performances.
