The Unthanks: Songs from the Shipyards LIVE
Following tributes to Robert Wyatt and Anthony Hegarty, Northumbrian folk-stars The Unthanks perform their latest project: a magical and haunting live soundtrack to director Richard Fenwick’s documentary film, ‘Songs From The Shipyards’. Blending traditional and contemporary songs (including Elvis Costello’s great Falklands War ballad, ‘Shipbuilding’) together with new material written especially for the show, The Unthanks deliver a deeply moving elegy for a lost industry and the people who worked in it. The film / performance will last for one hour, without an interval.
Commissioned by and first performed at Tyneside Cinema, Songs from the Shipyards tells the story of the rise and fall of the shipbuilding industry and it’s impact on the lives of so many people in the 20th century; a beautiful and moving illustration of Britain’s industrial journey in microcosm. The film performance is a unique event that brings archive film of the UK’s shipyards and rivers to vibrant new life.
While the footage focuses on the North East yards of the Tyne, Wear and Tees rivers, there is also film footage from the UK’s other major shipyards. Moreover, the tour of this very special event takes in town and cities with historical links to shipbuilding; places where the rivers and seas were the the life blood of the community for many years. The tour also marks the release for The Unthanks of the music from the film: Diversions Vol. 3 – Songs from the Shipyards.
‘The Unthanks’ startling folk has all the eerie power of their native Northumbria’s coast … Adrian McNally’s ghostly piano entwining with Rachel and Becky Unthank’s extraordinary voices on songs of love and loneliness..’ THE GUARDIAN
This show lasts one hour without an interval.
Promoted by St George’s Bristol