We’re big fans of this culture journal for the South West, so we want to help spread the word about their kickstarter campaign to fund the next issue.
Nom de Strip started its life as a small zine hand delivered to venues in Plymouth two years ago. The idea was to create a space for lots of people to share, discover, write and talk about all of the great things happening in the region in a way that was meaningful to everyone, not just those who work in the arts.
Since that first issue, Nom de Strip has grown into a journal about arts and culture in the South West, which has established itself as a key voice for contemporary arts and culture in the region.
The creators of Nom de Strip, William and Pamela, are now at the stage where they want to make it bigger and better, so that more people can enjoy and benefit from it. They have applied for Arts Council funding to help them do this, and they find out whether they have been successful in August. In the meantime, rather than sit and twiddle their thumbs for two months, they want you to help them make their next issue.
Watch the video below, and find out what you can do to help by clicking here >>
This summer we have some excellent live music ranging from a local band tipped to make it big, The Computers, to the American living legend, Lonnie Liston Smith; whilst soul, disco, and funky house tunes get the party started on our terrace bar.
Jenny Eclair is back after a sell-out show last year and Antara, which mixes contemporary Bollywood dance with world music and urban poetry, is set to be a beautifully moving performance.
We can’t wait for Big Screen in the Park, Exeter’s outdoor cinema event which will screen The Goonies (get your truffle shuffle ready!), Skyfall, Life of Pi and The Great Gatsby under the stars. Plus there’s an extraordinary exhibition, examining the relationship between new technologies and social control from artist Charlie Tweed.
All of this, plus a wide range of courses and workshops for adults and children, means there’s normally something to do in our bustling venue in the heart of the city.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
All at Exeter Phoenix
(Check out our summer playlist below for a taste of all the gigs we’re putting on throughout July and August…)
Playwright Natalie McGrath discusses Oxygen and Dreadnought South West
This summer Dreadnought South West will be delivering a major arts and heritage project celebrating the centenary of The Great 1913 Suffrage Pilgrimage. As part of this project, a specially commissioned play, Oxygen, by Natalie McGrath will go on tour from Lands End to London, following the route of the original pilgrimage, one hundred years ago. In the run up to the Exeter leg of the tour, Belinda Dillon spoke to Natalie about the project.
How did the project begin?
In 2008 I saw a copy of a photo of a group of women holding a banner that read ‘National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society Land’s End to London’, and immediately I thought that there was a story to be told there.
I started to have conversations with people, and found a book by Kathryn Bradley called Friends and Visitors, which is a history of women’s suffrage campaigns in Cornwall, published by the Hypatia Trust. As my research continued, I discovered more about the pilgrimage, and that the women had stopped in all these places across a South West route to rally and recruit people to support the votes for women campaign.
Piecing the dots together, I thought that it would be exciting to do a Cornish tour with Cornish actors – so many of whom are specialists in going on tour and performing indoors and outdoors, that kind of lifestyle – and some of whom I had been lucky enough to work with through the Hall for Cornwall’s Responses project, which is where I began to learn my craft as a writer. I then I got busy trying to build a career.
My first professional play Metal Remains in 2008, was produced by Theatre West in Bristol, and subsequently shortlisted for the Meyer Whitworth Award. In 2011, Coasting was produced by Bristol Old Vic, after an intense and incredibly supportive development time through their Literary department and Ferment programme. I really started to understand something more about my craft as a writer. These things take time. I also worked with the Brewhouse Theatre on Rift as part of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012. Still very much learning. Always learning!
But I knew the picture of those women who walked in 1913 was a big thing, and so I kept it at the back of my mind, not ever really letting go of it. Not losing sight of the image. But not knowing what I might do.
So how did you transform it from that single image into the multi-date tour that it is now?
I wrote to the Hypatia Trust and they invited me to become a fellow. This enabled me to go and stay on retreat with them and it was here that I really started to research and develop my ideas around the project. My conversation with Melissa Hardie MBE had begun and was inspiring.
So I then invited a director to come on board: Josie Sutcliffe, who was previously head of theatre at Dartington, and has a great track record of working on new plays by women; she is also a Greenham stalwart, and therefore has a sense of the women’s movement. I knew that a project like this would be more than just a job, that people involved would have to buy into the ethos. To have a real engagement with the material. Josie has also trained at the Berliner Ensemble and her understanding and experience in Epic theatre became a critical part of the development of the play Oxygen. I became even more inspired.
We talked it through with cultural managers Sue Kay and Mary Schwarz, who agreed that it would be a fantastic idea to run a tour 100 years later, and that it should cover the whole region. Not just the initially proposed Cornish leg of it. Mary and Sue really helped us find a vision through an R & D stage, for what became not just a touring theatre show in the making, but a project with a wider reach and resonance. Dreadnought South West became the original name for the project and it has stayed with us. There are arts and heritage waymarkers projects and short land journeys all across the region now. Amazing.
You mentioned the ‘ethos’ of the project being an important aspect…
Although at first we didn’t know whether we had a theatre tour or a commemorative walk, what we realised very quickly was that we were moving towards launching an organisation – Dreadnought South West Association – to champion women’s voices and stories in the region, and to encourage the development of women artists and makers.
The Arts Council-funded project, Dreadnought South West, has become about using your voice, and that could be young women and young men seeing us use our voices through the development of this project, grasping the notion of how important it is to have a voice.
We’re not a political party, but we are engaging with the core politics and values of the women’s suffrage movement, demanding to be heard. The reason that women wanted the vote, needed the vote, was because they saw three core values that needed addressing – to end child poverty, to stop the slave trade, and to stop sweated labour, on behalf of men and women – and were not being addressed in parliament. When we discovered that those were the founding principles of the suffrage campaign, we realised how close we are to those things today, and that they raise many questions on our society.
How does the play, Oxygen, fit into the project?
Oxygen is the lifeblood that runs through it, and will be performed at most of the stopping places along the original route. There isn’t a theatre show in every place, but there will be episodes, fragments and parts of the show in public spaces. The pilgrimage was organised by law-abiding suffragists as another face of the campaign votes for women, to the heightened militancy of the suffragettes.
At the heart of Oxygen is the notion of how differently people campaign for the same cause. We’re not performing an historical re-enactment, although I am trying to infuse stories from the pilgrimage into the story. During the development phase, what Josie and I first talked about was created something that could play indoors and out, so I chose to attempt to work in the epic form, and from this we shaped a vision for the play.
There are unusual shifts between episodes, so there’s not a smooth narrative arc, and that sense of disruption resonates with what the women did, as they disrupted the status quo. The form lends itself to content. So we might have a scene with a militant ‘newsy’ then move to a personal scene, then an imagined scene between Mrs Fawcett and Mrs Pankhurst. The disruption of expectation keeps us on our toes, and we want it to be exciting, to capture the spirit of the times. I hope that it’s a show that can appeal to as many people as possible. I always had in my mind that it would have broad appeal and yet still touch upon these incredible issues that are still relevant to us in our contemporary world.
And the project has inspired individuals and organisations to remember the pilgrimage in their own way…
There are talks and debates going on all over the region, as well as commemorative land journeys to celebrate the courage and spirit of those women, who put one foot in front of the other to march for what was important to them. Funding permitting, we are also hoping to establish an online museum of suffrage objects from the region, which will create a lasting legacy and educational resource. So many people across the region have initiated their own responses and projects. Their generosity and enthusiasm for the project has been incredible.
And what sort of legacy might result from Dreadnought South West?
One thing that materialised for me is that this was not just a one-off project – as difficult as that was to articulate and conceive, and to raise the funds – but I wondered if a platform was emerging for women artists to have a voice to engage, in terms of the relationship between arts and heritage, where that will sit, how might they have a conversation and how might they celebrate women’s stories and women’s voices, across communities. That’s the most simple way I can articulate it. That would be the future I’d like it to have, to continue to explore that notion of celebrating women’s voices.
Oxygen is on tour 19 June-20 July 2013. Click here for a full venue listing and to buy tickets.
Oxygen comes to Rougemont Gardens in Exeter on Thu 4 Jul. Buy your tickets here.
Comments Off on Big Screen In The Park Returns For 2017
Exeter’s largest outdoor cinema returns to Northernhay Gardens for 2017. This year’s Big Screen In the Park line up will treat locals and holidaymakers to cult classics, family favourites and new releases over seven summer evenings.
Visitors are welcome bring blankets and picnics, but can also upgrade to a deck chair or prebook a feast for two, with a specially prepared picnic basket packed full of breads, cheeses, pickles, charcuterie and other nibbles, served up with crisp white wine / locally-sourced fruit juice to round off the perfect evening.
Adding to the festival feel, there will be an excellent selection of food and drink including wares from Flaming Good Pizza, Candyfloss Kids and Chococo, a fully stocked bar and the original and best Bikecaffe.
Big Screen In The Park 2017 is supported by Princesshay Exeter, Exeter BID, Tarquins Gin and St Austell Brewery.
Comments Off on Exeter Phoenix Partners Artist Residency Project In London
Standpoint Futures – Artist’s Residencies
Exeter Phoenix is a partner organisation for 5 development residencies for regionally based UK based visual artists, providing bespoke, high-calibre opportunities for discussion and interaction with the London art world, as well as accommodation, studio, mentoring/advisor visits and modest expenses.
Selectors will be one representative from each of Standpoint Futures’ partner organisations: G39 & Chapter Arts, Peacock Visual Arts, The Royal Standard, Exeter Phoenix and Standpoint.
Deadline Mon 1 July. Further details and application materials are at :
Have you seen the huge message that has appeared in Exeter Phoenix’s windows spelling out the positive and defiant message to the world at large to “never, never, never, never give up”?
The sign is part of an exhibition called Against All Odds which runs at Exeter Phoenix until 6 July. The artists, a duo fro Plymouth called LOW PROFILE, are interested in ideas around survival, preparedness and perseverance, often through a series of task-led works that test their commitment to keeping going and not giving up. Another feature of the exhibition is the Survival Shelf – a presentation of their on-going, eclectic and ever expanding library of books that utilise some word ‘survive’ in their titles; from The SAS Survival Guide to Gloria Gaynor’s autobiography, I Will Survive. Their work is filled with humour, absurdity and has a light touch.
Matt Burrows, Art Curator at Exeter Phoenix:
‘The great thing about the message, ‘NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP’ is that, it will resonate differently with each individual who reads it. On a wider scale, in this time of social uncertainty, it is a positive message for the community and by framing it within Exeter Phoenix it also acts as a rallying call for artists and arts venues that are struggling under increasing pressures and funding cuts.’
Exeter will host a six-day celebration of new live performance work from the South West and beyond. Over fifty performances are to take place across the city at venues including Exeter Phoenix, The Bike Shed Theatre and The Cygnet Theatre as well as pub venues such as The Hourglass, The Globe and The Rusty Bike.
One of Exeter Phoenix’s highlights includes an inventive and quirky play, The Last Post, in which seventeen audience members watch a nostaligic love story about the wonderful art of letter writing, in the back of a mobile sorting office in the Phoenix carpark.
At the Bikeshed Theatre, Fellswoop Theatre follows last year’s award-winning and Edinburgh sell out success Belleville Rendez-vous with a dark and intriguing drama, Ablutions.
The Hourglass hosts an adaptation of Dickins’ Great Expectations by a founder member of Cornwall’s Kneehigh Theatre, David Mynne, as well as an eccentric, vintage comedy about a cross-channel swimming champion, Swimmers.
Whilst at the Cygnet Theatre, dance fans can experience a beautifully evocative performance with live music in Buttercup and contemporary dance from performers trained at Rambert and the Royal Ballet in Piano Moves.
David Lockwood, Director of The Bike Shed Theatre says;
‘Exeter Ignite is a wonderful opportunity for artists to try out new work, often before they go up to the Edinburgh Festival. It is also a chance for people in the city to have some fun, try something new and take part in something a little different.’
Click here to see Ignite events taking place at Exeter Phoenix
Comments Off on New Menu of Eastern Mediterranean delights
Exeter Phoenix has launched a brand new menu. Our chef has created a delicious array of rustic dishes using traditional recipes from around the world fused with a unique contemporary twist. Each of the dishes is homemade, the ingredients are locally sourced and they are all made with a passion for nutrition and fantastic flavor.
The new menu features Lebanese falafel and hummus, oriental soba noodles, jerk chicken and lentil moussaka alongside tasty daily specials that have recently included juicy steak sandwiches and delicious hotpots.
All profits from the Exeter Phoenix Café Bar go back to the Exeter Phoenix charity, so you can now enjoy tasty food, knowing that you are supporting your local arts charity.
Songs take star billing in June’s fresh journey of heartfelt interpretation
By Jackie Butler, Western Morning News.
On a clear and bright April day, June Tabor is busy sowing seeds and tidying up in the big garden of her home in the Welsh borders.
In a few days’ time the queen of contemporary folk singers takes to the road on a concert tour with her latest musical project – an inspired jazz-tinged trio called Quercus featuring saxophonist Iain Bellamy and her long-time collaborator and pianist Huw Warren, both celebrated musicians in their fields.
But first there is much catching up to do outdoors.
“The weather has been so strange; we had heavy snow and a lot of things didn’t get done,” says June. “I have to stuff seeds into every kind of nook and cranny now.
“I try to grow as many things to eat as I can. For a long time I lived in London and didn’t have anywhere to grown things, but my I used to help my mum in the garden; I never learned what to do, but it was just there in the back of my memory.
“Once you get hooked on that kind of thing, it never leaves you.”
The same sentiment could be expressed about June’s other obsession – singing songs.
While these two things may be wildly disparate, they both involve her taking an essence and nurturing it into beautiful maturity.
“One is a connection to things like home and soil and weather, and the other is something that is virtually in isolation,” she observes.
“Singing is in the moment; it’s unique to the space and the audience and how you perform on that night, the inspiration you get from the people you are playing with. It is very ephemeral, and totally real at the same time.”
Quercus is a combination that came together organically. June and Huw both admired Iain’s playing and they first got together to perform at the Berlin Jazz Festival a few years ago. The band’s eponymous album just released on the ECM label was actually recorded live when they toured back in 2006.
The trio create a melee of traditional folk, jazz and chamber music, weaving these elements together through poignant words and enchanting melodies, delivered with deep-rooted heart and soul.
“Huw and Iain come from a jazz background and I don’t. We are not trying to bend music into unnatural shapes; we are making something unique to us as a trio.
“It defies categorisation; all the songs tell stories. It is music that deserves attention. All I can say is listen to it,” she says.
While it is clear that June, now 65, owner of a distinctively deep, rich-toned voice and twice the winner of Singer of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, has no love of the mechanics of gigging or recording, her passion for telling stories through song will never fade.
“I don’t write songs; I have never written one. I have ideas about what songs should be about and then I tell people who come back with something magnificent,” she says. “What I do is interpret and breathe life into them and take them in a slightly different direction.”
June gets enormous joy from discovering new, and old, songs to sing. Her professional journey began as a late teenager in the mid-1960s, inspired by folk singers Annie Briggs and Belle Stewart. She sang in folk clubs while she was a student at Oxford University and joined her first band there. An early appearance at Sidmouth Folk Festival established her as a burgeoning talent.
In 1976 her first solo album, Airs and Graces, was released to great acclaim. There have been 17 more since then, and her back catalogue also contains many weighty collaborations, including work with Martin Simpson, Maddy Prior, Fairport Convention and the comic Mrs Ackroyd Band. Working with the folk rock ensemble Oysterband has also proved fruitful and enjoyable on two separate occasions. The first was in 1990 when they recorded and then toured the album Freedom and Rain together.
Two decades later they joined forces again for the universally acclaimed Ragged Kingdom – an album mainly of traditional folk songs and featuring an astonishingly arresting cover of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart. It was this partnership that lured June out touring again.
“I wasn’t doing that many gigs any more, then the album with the Oysterband happened. Gigging with them has been wonderful,” citing one of their final shows together at Exeter Cathedral earlier this year as “a lovely lovely gig”.
June may have been singing professionally for more than 40 years, but she is never complacent about it.
“I do still feel nervous on stage. You need something to keep you sharp. I wonder will I remember the words, will I do justice to the song I am performing,” she says.
“To me all the songs we play are really special. I want to perform them to the best of my ability and for the audience to get as much out of them as I do. The best performance is when it sounds like a song is being sung for the first time. That is so important. If you think it is just another song, then you are doing it a disservice.”
Comments Off on Judges Announced for Exeter Contemporary Open 2013
We are pleased to announce that the judges on the panel for this year’s Contemporary Open exhibition will include artist and curator Kevin Hunt, independent curators Day + Gluckman and Phoenix Gallery curator Matt Burrows.
Entries for the exhibition will be accepted until the deadline of Friday 14 June, and more information on the application process can be found here >>
Kevin Hunt
Kevin is an artist and curator and was director of The Royal Standard, an artist led gallery, project space and social workspace in Liverpool between July 2007 and January 2011. He co-curated Cave Art Fair which ran alongside Liverpool Biennial in 2012.
As a practicing artist, Hunt makes sculpture using found, redundant objects, particularly furniture which is reconfigured into something new.
The curatorial collaboration Day+Gluckman have a reputation for working with artists with a rigorous approach to practice and context. Their aim is to develop long-term relationships with artists and seek and initiate opportunities to exhibit, explore, curate and commission.
Since 2008 Day+Gluckman have been programming the Collyer Bristow Gallery, London and are reponsible for the ongoing Sinopticon project which featured in multiple venues across Plymouth in 2012.
Matt joined the Exeter Phoenix team in 2009, having previously worked in various roles in both the commercial and public art sector, including roles at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London and Spacex Gallery in Exeter. He oversees all the exhibition spaces at Exeter Phoenix with a primary focus on the Phoenix Gallery’s programme of contemporary art.
Comments Off on Jackie stirs magical memories while championing sweet songs of sleep
Folk singer and violinist Jackie Oates tells Jackie Butler about her new LP of lullabies and her bid to bring back singing as a child’s bedtime tradition.
By Jackie Butler, Western Morning News.
When folk star Jackie Oates was a little girl, her mother used to sing her lullabies, soothing her gently to sleep at the end of each day.
Jackie’s favourite was a sweet and simple ditty called Alexander Beetle – an AA Milne verse set to music – and it now takes pride of place on her new LP Lullabies.
It’s a unique and delightful collection of songs – some more universally familiar than others – that have been sung to different generations of little ones at bedtime.
Little Boy Blue sits alongside Shakespeare’s Philomel from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Paul McCartney’s Junk and The Worthy Wood Carol, penned in the 1920s by an Exmoor gypsy.
Apart from celebrating the songs themselves – a cache of gems rich in the folklore of the cradle with all its superstitions and customs – Jackie’s aim is to encourage parents to follow suit and revive a fast-fading tradition.
“I loved being sung to. I still find the experience very moving and comforting. And a lullaby has the ability to take you into another place,” says Jackie, whose own clear and pretty voice brims with a delicate, rustic honesty, offering the perfect ambience for soothing delivery.
“There are several songs I know from childhood and when I hear them they can really take me by surprise,” adds the award-winning singer and violinist who came from a music-loving Staffordshire family whose summers were spent at Sidmouth Festival; her brother is the boundary-pushing folk singer Jim Moray. Jackie’s love for traditional songs was fuelled and nurtured while she was a student in Exeter.
She chose to live on in the city for several years after graduating, honing her musical craft in the company of community musicians, becoming a key member of the Westcountry folk circle.
The 29-year-old is now settled in Oxfordshire with her champion Morris dancing partner Jack Worth, but she is delighted to be returning to her old stomping ground this month as part of her UK tour airing the new album.
The 15-track LP, released two weeks ago, represents the tip of a very deep iceberg of English lullabies that she uncovered during extensive research into the genre.
“As a folk singer I found it interesting that when you initially search for English lullabies, there don’t seem to be very many of them,” says Jackie, who is a member of the all-star multi-cultural folk band Imagined Village, and the fresh English face of Lush natural cosmetics.
“I asked around all my friends in the folk world and there were only two or three traditional ones that we could all sing. There are many more, of course, but they are hidden and hard to come by.”
“If you go to Ireland or Scotland, lullabies are much more a part of the musical heritage.”
Her first port of call was Cecil Sharp House in London, which holds the largest archive of traditional folk materials. She discovered that most were American in origin. Determined to dig out some old English examples, Jackie began trawling the vaults of Devon song collector Sabine Baring Gould, and any other collection she could find, including the Oxford Song Book. Gradually her search started to bear fruit, and it is still an ongoing project.
She sings each new find and then notates it so that it can be lodged in the archive at Cecil Sharp House, the home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
“It’s quite an undertaking,” she admits. “But I am really enjoying the discipline of it. I’m up to 180 songs now and I’m hoping to double that.”
Along the way, Jackie picked out a shortlist of songs that she wanted to record.
“I wanted to make an album that brought to life these hidden lullabies and encourage parents to sing them to their children,” she says.
“Singing a lullaby is very pleasurable for the singer, too. And it can be cathartic, too – you can vent all manner of things in a lullaby because it’s not just about the story, it’s about the person singing, and creating that bond of warmth.
“I felt I had to achieve a balance between showcasing the unusual and creating something that people would like to listen to.”
That meant filtering out the dark side of the lullaby world.
“I didn’t want to scare the children,” she says.
“A lot of old lullabies were all about moaning about your life and a way of expressing about the things that had upset you, but without upsetting the child because they didn’t understand the words.”
In between concerts, research and recording, Jackie teaches violin and it was her young pupils who became guinea pigs when she was choosing the songs to include on the album.
“Before I recorded anything I played the songs to them to gauge their reaction,” she says.
The tracks were recorded late last year at sessions in Bath and Reykjavik in Iceland, and feature a feast of guest artists, including guitarist Chris Serjeant and, on piano, Belinda O’Hooley, whom Jackie first met when they were both members of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset.
The Icelandic connection came about through Jackie’s friendship with Bara Grimsdottir and producer Richard Evans.
“Bara is a brilliant singer and she had a great repertoire of lullabies. And Richard’s best friend was out in Iceland. I’ve always wanted to go there, and it just made sense to fly out there with a little recording deck for five days,” she says.
“We had a brilliant time and I made so many new friends; music is brilliant for that – if we had just gone as tourists it would have been a totally different experience,” adds Jackie, who says she will be bringing an Icelandic langspil – an instrument akin to an Appalachian dulcimer – on the current tour.
As well as the evening show at Exeter, Jackie is running an afternoon workshop at the Phoenix for parents and their children aged up to four.
“When I was living in Devon I travelled around giving folk singing workshops and it’s something I love doing,” she says. “I have tailored this one to be about more unusual lullabies.”
Jackie Oates’ Lullabies tour comes to Exeter Phoenix on Wednesday, April 24.
By night, Fay Hield has men gripped in a curious whirlwind of clandestine adventure and exploration.
By day, Hield is a Teaching Associate in Ethnomusicology at Sheffield University.
The Northern character and her own team of merry men unravel timeworn tales of folklore and allusion, scattering tones and grades of sensitivity and melancholia.
In light of her guise, Hield yields an endearing scroll of talent more vivacious than the trees of Sherwood Forest. Various accolades in hand, including a nomination for the Horizon Award at 2010’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and a completed PhD thesis “English Folk Singing and the Construction of Community”, Hield engages with insight and aptitude. Most notably, ambitious 13th Century Greek fable ‘Sir Orfeo’ uncovers pioneering levels, combined with traditional vocals. Called by triumphant tones of fanfare, it is easy to picture a further team of merry men jigging along in support of Fay Hield & The Hurricane upon a live performance of ‘Sir Orfeo’.
Accompanied by partner and beloved Bellowhead frontman, John Boden, the troop commit to “the music of the people”. Rejecting the drums, bass and guitar, Hield tells of “people reacting with each other to make amazing music”.
Hield’s sweet vocals, juxtaposed with undertones of a darkly comic mood, stir a murkier lead in ‘Naughty Baby’. ‘Naughty Baby’ warns of mother Bonaparte destroying the child limb from limb and eating him “in one gulp” if the infant doesn’t fall silent. Although far from the standard guidance of contemporary babysitters, there is a somewhat consensus for the sentiment of finally snapping with defeat at a crying baby. Fay Hield commits to muse with “elements belonging to others or surrounding people”, travelling through time with tales of individuals and relationships reborn with a reminiscence that feels no more than a day old.
Tickets for Fay Hield & The Hurricane at Exeter Phoenix on Wednesday 27th March can be obtained by phoning 01392 667080 or by clicking here.
We’re offering a free CD to the first 5 people to book tickets for selected music events*
Call Box Office on 01392 667080 and quote ‘CD GIVE-AWAY’.
EVENTS INCLUDED IN THE OFFER:
Fay Hield & The Hurricane Party
Wed 27 Mar | 8pm | £12 (£10)
FIRST 5 TO BOOK WILL RECEIVE THE NEW ALBUM ORFEO (2012)
Leading proponents of traditional tunes, this band’s material is fresh and original, yet rooted in centuries old tradition. The showmanship and musicality on display are second to none.
‘Hield’s command of her material is unerring and the outcome compelling’ ★ ★ ★ ★|
THE OBSERVER
James Yorkston & The Pictish Trail
Thu 18 Apr | 8pm | £14
FIRST 5 TO BOOK WILL RECEIVE EITHER JAMES YORKSTON’S, I WAS A CAT FROM A BOOK (2012) OR THE PICTISH TRAIL, SECRET SOUNDZ VOL 2
The two much-lauded members of the Fence Collective, collaborate with the Irish folk singer, Seamus Fogarty, to create a rousing blend of contemporary folk music.
‘A beautifully shaded work… Innovative arrangements’
BBC REVIEW (on Yorkston’s new album)
Quercus
Tue 23 Apr | 8pm | £16
FIRST 5 TO BOOK WILL RECEIVE THE NEW ALBUM (RELEASED APRIL 1 2013)
June Tabor’s gripping voice is woven with Iain Ballamy’s glorious saxophone and Huw Warren’s piano to create exquisite chamber music, drawing on the trio’s repertoire of original folk songs.
‘One of Britain’s greatest interpreters of popular song’
THE GUARDIAN (on Tabor)
*Offer only valid when purchasing two or more tickets, CDs available to give away to the first 5 bookers for each event. Subject to availability. CDs will be available to collect along with your tickets on the night.
Comments Off on Partnership announced with Exeter clowning troupe, Le Navet Bete and digital artists, Blind Ditch
We are pleased to support two award-winning local companies in the development of their new projects. The popular clown company Le Navet Bete will present their new show at Exeter Phoenix later in the year and the short films supported by Exeter Phoenix for Blind Ditch will be presented as part of their site specific performance This City’s Centre in September.
Comments Off on Exeter Phoenix celebrates a record number of sell-out gigs
Over the last few weeks we have been busier than ever with a series of ‘hot tickets’ and sold out shows. Bands such as Lee Scratch Perry, Frightened Rabbit, Joy Formidable, Stornoway, Willy Mason and Neil Innes have attracted new audiences and put Exeter on the map as a destination to see excellent music.
Check out this video from our sold-out Slamboree night:
Comments Off on Free Easter egg with every kid’s meal + a fun activity sheet
On Saturday 30th March, we’ll be celebrating Easter with some tasty treats at our café bar. As well as a delicious menu of specials for kids and their mums and dads, we’ll be giving away a chocolate egg with every kid’s meal. Plus, we’ll be serving tasty hot cross buns throughout the holidays… yum!
To download our special Easter activity sheet click here
(These Easter specials will be available on Sat 30 Mar on top of our usual menu and children’s options)
Roasted Lamb shank cooked with rosemary served with sauté potatoes and spring vegetables.
£8.95 | Half a portion for kids £4.95
Artisan open flatbread topped with squash, feta cheese and shug (chilli, coriander and garlic) served with meze salad.
£5.25 | Kid’s flat bread pizza served with carrot and cucumber sticks £3.95
Comments Off on Exeter Phoenix supported film wins Best Comedy presented by Simon Pegg
Known as the ‘mini Oscars’, the First Light Awards ceremony in Leicester Square is attended by a mix of film industry luminaries and celebrities. We are delighted to announce that an Exeter Phoenix supported film HB scooped the award for Best Comedy. The short film was part of a series of sex education films made by young people and was chosen from hundreds of entries.
Exeter Phoenix is looking to commission a new art work that engages with new emerging digital technologies.
This may include; artworks created using digital technology, artworks whose final form is digital in nature, and/or artworks that, through their subject, say something about emerging digital technologies and their impact on the world.
£750 towards training, expenses, materials and development costs
Technical & creative support
Use of facilities at Exeter Phoenix Digital
Exhibition opportunities at Exeter Phoenix
This commission is open to artists who reside within the South West. To for more information or to apply download the FAQ and application form.
Comments Off on Unique Boutique Arts & Crafts Market
The Unique Boutique indoor market is back! Freshen up for Spring with arts and crafts handmade in Devon.
Sat 30 Mar | 11am – 3.30pm
There will be plenty of stalls across our ground floor, so you can shop for quirky and unusual gifts, support local artists, and stop for a nice cuppa and cake in our café.
Interested in a selling at Unique Boutique? Email Eleanor at UniqueBoutiqueMarkets@gmail.com for more information.
Comments Off on Frightened Rabbit preview from Exeposé
Scottish indie rock band Frightened Rabbit are coming to the Phoenix this month, following the release of their fourth album Pedestrian Verse.
The album represents a major milestone in the band’s artistic journey; following the mixed reception of 2010 album The Winter of Mixed Drinks – their last with independent label Fat Cat Records – Frightened Rabbit have returned to their roots, approaching Pedestrian Verse with the same lyrical frankness which typified their earlier work whilst, for the first time ever, adopting a collaborative approach to their songwriting. Consequently, the album feels more ‘grown up’, and experiments with new sounds, minor keys and wider subject matter.
Following their success in the States, and now signed with major label Atlantic Records, the band have been able to record the album at the renowned Monnow Valley Studio – a far cry from the bedrooms, cupboards and kitchens that the band have recorded in previously.
Lyrically the album is very impressive; the collaboration from the other band members combined with the three month wait to secure producer Leo Abrahams seems to have given the band the chance to hone and refine their songwriting, and while the lyrics deliver the same passion, honesty and lyrical intensity that only Frightened Rabbit seem able to produce, there is an uplifting optimism and exciting freshness behind it all.
Despite being fairly unknown in the UK, Pedestrian Verse could be the breakthrough album for Frightened Rabbit. With rock anthems like new single Woodpile under their belt, you can expect a night of raw, impassioned performance generating a raucous, contagious atmosphere as the band aim to get music ‘out of that dress and into a sweater’.
Pedestrian Verse was released in the UK on 4th February 2013, and you can listen to the album exclusively via The Guardian’s music blog. Frightened Rabbit will be playing at the Exeter Phoenix on Sunday 17th February.
By Magda Cassidy
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