"The Winter Parliament"
A new project to create a Christmas live music theatre show for families in Gloucester.
This is the webpage to accompany George Moorey's Arts Council England Project Award funding application.
Plans include:
- creative workshops with primary school children and older people
- writing a new story, developing songs, making music, illustrations and animations
- a show that features a live music group, a narrator, a backdrop of animated illustrations with each chapter of the story told in the form of a song
- rehearsing and performing the show for family audiences in the centre of Gloucester during Winter 2025
"People stopped to stand and stare, to feel the magic in the air"
from "The Lights that Dance in the Night" by Yuval Zommer
Below is a demo recording of an unreleased song (with co-writer Shane Young) which is an example of George's musical style.
The artwork is by Jemma Skidmore (and animated by Paul Muller). Jemma's illustrative style is a wonderful visual fit to George's ideas for a theatre production and his folk songwriting style.
Our story takes place around the same time and place as Beatrix Potter's "The Tailor of Gloucester".
"But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that they say).
When the Cathedral clock struck twelve there was an answer—like an echo of the chimes—and Simpkin heard it, and came out of the tailor's door, and wandered about in the snow.
From all the roofs and gables and old wooden houses in Gloucester came a thousand merry voices singing the old Christmas rhymes—all the old songs that ever I heard of, and some that I don't know, like Whittington's bells."
from A Tailor of Gloucester by Beatrix Potter
Imagine what other adventures might be taking place.....
Who are the animals that live in Westgate Street, College Green and the other gate streets of Gloucester?
Where else does the mice's network of tunnels lead?
What are the songs the animals sing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning?
Have you heard about the family of peregrine falcons who've made their nest in the Cathedral Tower?
What is The Winter Parliament? What has it got to do with the animals in the city?
Did you know that a dolphin skeleton was once found at an excavation site near the Cathedral? How did it get there?
The idea for "The Winter Parliament" grew out of a conversation between George and Jemma. They shared ideas about art that is inspired by Gloucester and how there doesn't seem to be any Christmas time theatre for families in the city. They have highlighted these 3 things to start building this new Gloucester based project around:
1. The paragraph in Beatrix Potter's "A Tailor of Gloucester" where the animals being able to speak (and presumably sing too) on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning is is quietly mentioned.
2. Gloucester was where the Kings of England held their Winter Parliament in the 11th century. (Winchester was the Summer Parliament and Parliament was also held in London at other times)
3. The word "parliament" is the literal definition of a group of owls - "A parliament of owls" paints lots of pictures in our imaginations.
Jemma Skidmore - illustrator & artist
Throughout her career, Jemma has worked with many distinguished clients, including Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen, for whom she created picture book props. She has also created illustrations for prestigious publishers such as Simon & Schuster and Oxford University Press. Here is a link to her Instagram page.
A note about collaboration & community in George's music practice
George enjoys collaborating with the local community. For this project he aims to create a story and narrative based on Beatrix Potter's "Tailor of Gloucester" with children and older people and combine it with his songwriting, music production and arts project management experience to make a new live music show to entertain families in the city around Christmas time.
He is keen to bring life to an underused community space (St Mary's Congregational Hall - pictured) that is ideally located near the Cathedral, just a 2 or 3 minute walk from the Tailor of Gloucester's shop but is not used for many things, let alone anything creative.
The Folk of Westgate in Gloucester is a new partner in the project and there are plans to perform there
as well as at Kingsholm CofE Primary School and Lonsdale Methodist Community Hall outside of the city centre (these are the spaces where the project participants attend).
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