In a flurry of weather changes and multiple rehearsal schedules, May has arrived! May 2019 is an incredibly busy month for StormCloud - keep on reading to find out what we are up to!
Stroud Shakespeare Festival
Last year, we took our award winning adaptation of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to a brand new arts festival; Stroud Shakespeare Festival. Alongside our ‘Midsummer Weekender’, we performed with Kate from Wise + Wayward Theatre on a music project called ‘Sounds & Sweet Airs’. We’ve been lucky enough to be accepted back to the festival for 2019, and will be working on three projects! This year, the festival will be taking place on Thursday 30th May - Sunday 2nd June. Read on to find out more about our projects, and read more about the festival here!
Much Ado About Nothing
‘Much Ado’ is StormCloud’s focus of the summer, and is the show we are taking to Stroud. It is a modern language adaptation of Shakespeare’s beloved romantic comedy, set in the 1940s, just as soldiers and nurses return home from war. The action takes place at Leonata’s country home, as she houses soldiers and family friends until they are able to be reunited with their families. Our cast are a talented bunch of graduates and students from the University of Winchester, some of who came to Stroud with us last year. Not only have we modernised the language and the setting, we’ve also added another layer to this production. We’ve teamed up with Winchester based choreographer and creative Kerryanne Hewlett to including incredible vintage and era appropriate dance numbers. The show runs for approximately 50 minutes, and takes place on the below dates on The Lawn Stage.
Friday 31st May - 6pm
Saturday 1st June - 4pm
Sunday 2nd June - 3pm
Tickets can be purchased here!
The Tempest
‘The Tempest’ is the festival’s flagship show, and our resident musical duo, The Britons, are performing the music! We have worked with ‘The Tempest’s director, Kate Raw, on multiple occasions through Foot in the Door Theatre and Wise + Wayward, so were thrilled when she asked us to work on the music. ‘The Tempest’ is a sea shanty and nautical inspired show, which allows The Britons to explore their folk specialisms. Our frequent collaborator Angharad Warren will be joining the duo on the violin, percussion, and vocals. Of The Britons, Rory Blincow will be contributing guitar, melodica, and vocals, and Rosie Lewis will be contributing banjo, penny whistle, and mandolin. The overall show runs for approximately 90 mins, and takes place on the below dates on The Lawn Stage.
Thursday 30th May - 7pm
Friday 31st May - 7.30pm
Saturday 1st June - 8pm
Sunday 2nd June - 12.30pm/7pm
Tickets can be purchased here!
The Britons
As mentioned above, StormCloud is home to the music duo The Britons; the creative name for our co-directors Rory Blincow and Rosie Lewis. The Britons specialise in creating and performing indie-folk music, including originals and covers. Uniquely, this duo were created whilst busking on the streets of Winchester, and will be continuing the tradition of busking at the festival! Although this event is free, do bring something for the busker’s hat. The performances vary in time, and can be found at The Pavilion at the below times.
Thursday 30th May - 5pm
Friday 31st May - 12pm/4pm
Other Projects
Whilst most of our time and effort is in preparing for the festival, we do have a few other projects that we are working on. Work is continually moving on the new musical that is being written by our co-directors, and we will be continuing the R&D and writing stages throughout the summer months. We are also involved in the Keats Festival in Winchester which will be taking place in October 2019. We will give you more information closer to the time, but we are currently creating a music and movement piece for that event. Finally, Rosie is also involved in a non-StormCloud project! She will be appearing in Music Theatre South’s production of ‘Big Fish’ in mid-June, which will be performed at Hanger Farm Arts Centre, Southampton. Tickets can be found here!
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