lanny & soundwood

over 2019 we (me and mark) worked with writer Max Porter to develop a semi-improvised musical underscore for his novel ‘Lanny’. Lanny was launched on the 5th March 2019 with a ‘dramatic reading’ of the novel in the Purcell Room at the South Bank Centre, London and then subsequantly at Christ Church, Bath, the Hay Festival, Cheltenham Literary Festival and Stroud Book Festival.

 

listen: the Guardian Hay Festival Special, june 2019 podcast presented by Claire Armitstead:a musical reading of Max Porter’s novel Lanny   

 

'Soundwood' - created with Max and subsequently members of rushes/esp for perfomance in 2019 and 2021 was 'an improvised mash up of spoken word, visual imagery and live music, creating a radical and immersive portrait of our complex and troubled country today'.

 

guest artists included poets Rachael Allen, Momtaza Mehri, Kerry Hudson, Niven Govinden, comedian Nina Conti, writer & performer Roger Robinson, writer Fatima Bhutto - with performances at the Cheltenham Literary Festival (2019) and Union Chapel London (2021)