“Silver Screens” is an exciting new intergenerational, oral history project for Dawlish in South Devon about cinema-going in the 1930s-50s. A group of volunteers – some newly-retired and some young people will learn digital recording & editing skills at Red Rock Centre and then oral history skills with Folk South West. They will then visit three different residential care settings to record the residents’ memories of cinema-going in their youth. They will also watch a period film together. Once all the recordings have been completed, they will be edited into a 45-minute CD that will be distributed to all the participants and schools & museums as a learning tool for the future. It is a project led by Promenade Promotions (Prom-Prom) Limited and supported by The Senior Council of Devon, Time For Life, Young Devon & West Bank Community Health & Care. The project funded by Awards For All.

The series is being performed in front of a live audience in Brighton’s Pavilion Theatre by Julian Clary. It a 3-part story about the life of Douglas Byng – the celebrated female impersonator of the 1920s & 30s. Tony met Dougie in 1986, just before Dougie died at the grand old age of 94 and saw one of his last performances given in the very theatre that Julian will be performing. Dougie was the doyen of the bright young things and a forerunner of glamorous female impersonators such as Danny La Rue or Dame Evadne Hinge. . The evening is by private invitation only but please tune in to The Byng Ballads on Radio 4 at 3.45 pm on the 2nd, 9th and 16th December and feedback to the BBC if you have a few spare moments.

We’re now in the process of submitting applications to Greentop to continue working on the Residency in the near future to develop some new ideas! Watch this space….

The group, including members of 2010 Pierrot troupe, The Pier-Echoes and pupils from Sidmouth College, participated in a number of workshops with Tony Lidington, founder of The Pierrotters, the last remaining professional Pierrot troupe.

The Pier-We-Goes could be found performing, playing and posturing on park benches, in Blackmore Gardens and in the Youth Showcase in Blackmore Marquee.

Please go to our Links page to find more information about the Pierrotters, the Pier-Echoes and the history of Pierrot and seaside entertainment.

Stopping to help with a crossword

The General offers his hat to a passerby

The Pier-We-Goes Pyramid in Blackmore Gardens at Sidmouth Folk Week

Fully made up, instruments tuned....ready to go!

The second of the three stories, “The Great Mephisto” was written by Tony Lidington. “A young illusionist from the Punjab takes revenge on his cruel master” Read by Madhav Sharma with Tony Lidington as Alfred, the Custodian of the Hall.

Directed by David Blount

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Don’t miss it!

Catch us at Sidmouth Folk Week! – we will be performing at 11.15am and 2pm in Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth on Saturday 30th July.

We are taking bookings for September 2011 and for Summer 2012. If you would like more details about the act or to make a booking please e-mail info@prom-prom.com or 01626 862175.

Last week, Beeno & I embarked on an adventure to Yorkshire for the first leg of our pilot tour!

We set out on the 8 hour journey with our little red gypsy vardo in tow which never fails to attract smiles, waves and bewildered expressions. Countless stops at mind bogglingly depressing motorway services later and we’re all set up in Bradford ready to gig! For both of us it was a first time out touring on our own and with new material in an unknown county performing for dramatically differing audiences in a number of contrasting and unpredictable environments from schools to large scale community events. We learned very quickly how to adapt our material in the moment for the needs of each audience from crowds of hundreds in Manningham Park to  groups of 10 at the Dales School and from 2 and 3 year olds to young people with learning disabilities.

We performed at Springwood School, Born in Bradford in Manningham Park, The Dales School and at a Shakespeare Community Event in Heaton, Bradford.

The show has received some very complimentary reviews from parents, teachers and children alike.

“I liked the bit when Bunny went in the bin because it was funny”. Oliver, 8, Westcliffe School.

“Thank you for providing our Nursery & Reception children with such an educational yet very entertaining performance of ‘Munch & Crunch’. The two performers were very enthusiastic and pitched at exactly the right level for our children. We thoroughly enjoy watching your shows and are looking forward to the next one.” – Libby Glennon, Nursery Teacher, Springwood School, Bradford.

“Munch & Crunch ticked all the right boxes – energetic, delightfully engaging, important messages about healthy living mixed with music, song, slapstick comedy and awe and wonder”. Mrs Lamoon, Westcliffe School.

“I liked the bit when we played the games”. Jessica, Westcliffe School.

Catch us at Sidmouth Folk Week! – we will be performing at 11.15am and 2pm in Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth on Saturday 30th July.

We are taking bookings for September 2011 and for Summer 2012. If you would like more details about the act or to make a booking please e-mail info@prom-prom.com or 01626 862175.

Catch us at Sidmouth Folk Week! – we will be performing at 11.15am and 2pm in Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth on Saturday 30th July.

We are taking bookings for September 2011 and for Summer 2012. If you would like more details about the act or to make a booking please e-mail info@prom-prom.com or 01626 862175.

Last week, Beeno & I embarked on an adventure to Yorkshire for the first leg of our pilot tour!

We set out on the 8 hour journey with our little red gypsy vardo in tow which never fails to attract smiles, waves and bewildered expressions. Countless stops at mind bogglingly depressing motorway services later and we’re all set up in Bradford ready to gig! For both of us it was a first time out touring on our own and with new material in an unknown county performing for dramatically differing audiences in a number of contrasting and unpredictable environments from schools to large scale community events. We learned very quickly how to adapt our material in the moment for the needs of each audience from crowds of hundreds in Manningham Park to  groups of 10 at the Dales School and from 2 and 3 year olds to young people with learning disabilities.

We performed at Springwood School, Born in Bradford in Manningham Park, The Dales School and at a Shakespeare Community Event in Heaton, Bradford.

The show has received some very complimentary reviews from parents, teachers and children alike.

“I liked the bit when Bunny went in the bin because it was funny”. Oliver, 8, Westcliffe School.

“Thank you for providing our Nursery & Reception children with such an educational yet very entertaining performance of ‘Munch & Crunch’. The two performers were very enthusiastic and pitched at exactly the right level for our children. We thoroughly enjoy watching your shows and are looking forward to the next one.” – Libby Glennon, Nursery Teacher, Springwood School, Bradford.

“Munch & Crunch ticked all the right boxes – energetic, delightfully engaging, important messages about healthy living mixed with music, song, slapstick comedy and awe and wonder”. Mrs Lamoon, Westcliffe School.

“I liked the bit when we played the games”. Jessica, Westcliffe School.

Catch us at Sidmouth Folk Week! – we will be performing at 11.15am and 2pm in Blackmore Gardens, Sidmouth on Saturday 30th July.

We are taking bookings for September 2011 and for Summer 2012. If you would like more details about the act or to make a booking please e-mail info@prom-prom.com or 01626 862175.

MORE DETAILS

Munch and Crunch is a 50 minute outdoor interactive performance for 3-11 year olds that is centred around promoting healthy living (5-a-day, exercise, cleanliness etc) that uses Story Telling, Music, Games, Magic and Sketches to achieve the message in the most fun and enjoyable way.

It was designed to appeal to English and Non-English speakers and toured the -country 3 years ago, playing to everything from schools to music festival children’s days/tents to immigrant community events and has been re-rehearsed with two new performers.! It is touring nationally this summer supported by Folk South West.

The show can fit into a events and festivals or can take place in the playground or school hall.  Being a touring show, the set and get in are very simple – a puppet booth that comes out of the back of a gypsy vardo, set up by the actors. Due to the interactive nature of the show it does require enough space for parachute games etc, the set itself takes about 12 feet by 4 feet of space and we recommend about 20-30 feet extra to play with.

The performers are also available as travelling musicians/performers/storytellers to add to a festival’s atmosphere and can work to a specific agenda if asked in advance (e.g. recycling etc).

Our average fee is £400 a day.

Please call 07891 009401 (Bunny) or 07952 692 018 (Beeno) or katherine.tranter@hotmail.co.uk or sam@the-wells.net for further details or to make a booking.

If you press historical re-wind and keep your finger on the button until you get to 1863, you’ll find Dan Leno making his debut, aged 4 at the Cosmotheca Music Hall in Paddington, London. He was billed as Little George, the Infant Wonder, Contortionist and Posturer and he would go on to become not only the King’s Jester, entertaining Edward VII at Sandringham, but also the highest paid funny man in the world at the time.

Fast forward to 2011 and we find Leno-the-laughter-maker in the expert hands of the show’s author, Tony Lidington, who also performs this extraordinary story with an almost super-human energy.

Lidington introduces himself as Dan Leno at Baldwyn’s Park mental institution in March 1904, six months before his early death at the age of 43. He’s ably assisted by his doctor, an excellent Malcolm Boyle, who is obviously fond of his charge but must keep a firm hand on his patient’s madness. There are times when Boyle stops the action as Leno escapes hilariously into the audience like a wild man.

Lidington’s ebullience bulges with Dan’s spirit and this production captures the vibrancy of his life from the very beginning. “Good evening ladles and jellyspoons…” he quips to the audience before producing a boiled egg and telling his story of the boiled egg and the wasp. He goes on to show his expertise at clog dancing, story-telling; and his invention of innovative characters is pure comedy genius. He appears with great gusto, dressed as a dame in the second half to show us how he devised and performed Mother Goose and Widow Twankey. Lidington’s performance is insanely accurate and massively impressive and definitely worth travelling to see.

25 May – The Met, Bury – 0161 761 2216

26 May – Alnwick Playhouse – 01665 510785

27 May – Bradford Playhouse – 01274 820 666

12 June – Lawrence Batley Theatre – 01484 430528

13 June – Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough – 01723 370 541

Helen Brown