We’ve been conjuring up some festive magic in Balmy Harwich Sunshine…
It might have felt a bit quiet on here since the end of the Atom and Luna tour - but behind the scenes team Funnelwick Limb have been busy planning for two new shows!
And one of those shows Twelve Yuletide Yarns (working title) had it’s first few days of R&D funded by Theatre Tax Relief last week. In a packed few days we also squeezed in a performance of Modern Cautionary Tales for Children II at Harwich Arts Centre by our fab lead artist, Murray Lachlan Young, and a discussion and advocacy event about the work of Funnelwick Limb in Wivenhoe - but more of those in future blogs!
But we must head back to the exciting world of 12 Yuletime Yarns. The show has been inspired by our work with over 1200 Tendring primary pupils in 2024 (work supported by Arts Council England using funds from the National Lottery) and the plan is that (if funding is secured) in November and December 2025 the show will tour schools across Tendring and Ellesmere Port.
(Foreground Bek Palmer, Nina Hajiyianni, Background Chileya Mwampolo and Matthew Linley)
During our week in Harwich the creative team - director Nina Hajiyianni (artistic director of Theatre Porto in Ellesmere Port), writer, poet and broadcaster Murray Lachlan Young, designer Bek Palmer, performer Chileya Mwampolo, and producer Matthew Linley,begun to test and bring to life the ideas we’ve been having about the show!
Very quickly a host of intriguing characters started to emerge including an escaping carrot, a nameless blob, and a Metro Gnome. A quirky take on school meal supervisors and headteachers might also be beginning to materialize....Here are some fab pictures taken by Harwich based photographer Alice Cannell, and there’s more to come in future blogs!
(Top image North Star, bottom image Blob)
Talking to local press our director Nina said "We are incredibly excited about the unique space of the school hall. It's a place where school communities gather for meals, assemblies, and sports. But we're exploring what might happen if a collection of weird and wonderful characters and their stories were to take over that space on the run up to Christmas."
And Murray added, "It was a real privilege to perform in schools across Tendring last year, and I'm looking forward now to taking those experience and the work we have been doing this week to create a joyfully bonkers show for the young people of Tendring this Christmas."
The show is being produced in association with Eastern Angles and Theatre Porto.
Over the next few weeks we will be posting more about our first 12 Yuletime Yarns R&D so do keep checking back or keep an eye on our socials
Matthew Linley, Creative Producer
