Watership Down by Richard Adams

 

Watership Down is a ground-breaking survival and adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural environment, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology.

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Evoking epic themes, such as home, leadership, freedom, fear, nature verses nurture and politics, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home, encountering perils and temptations along the way.

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The Economist heralded the book's publication, saying ‘If there is no place for Watership Down in children’s bookshops, then children’s literature is dead’. Peter Prescott, senior book reviewer at Newsweek, gave the novel a glowing review saying ‘Adams handles his suspenseful narrative more dextrously than most authors who claim to write adventure novels, but his true achievement lies in the consistent, comprehensible and altogether enchanting civilisation that he has created’.

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This timeless piece of literature was made into a feature-length film in 1978, and more recently a two-part, feature-length, series by the BBC alongside Netflix.

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“Like the pain of a bad wound, the effect of a deep shock takes some while to be felt. When a child is told, for the first time in his life, that a person he has known is dead, although he does not disbelieve it, he may well fail to comprehend it and later ask--perhaps more than once--where the dead person is and when he is coming back” (Richard Adams, Watership Down).

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Paradise Lost by Lost Dog

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‘There is a possibility that God made everything because he was terrified of doing nothing. Here is a re-telling of the story of the beginning of everything inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost – told through words, music and the easily misunderstood medium of dance. A show for anyone who has ever created anything (a child, a garden, a paper aeroplane) and then had to watch that wonderful thing spiral out of control. This work premiered in 2015 at Battersea Arts Centre and went on to run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2015 where it was shortlisted for a Total Theatre Award (Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form category)’, (Paradise Lost, Lost Dog).

 

Lost Dog’s one-man show, Paradise Lost (lies unopened beside me), won Ben Duke huge critical acclaim including the 2016 National Dance Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Male Performance. The show was shortlisted for a Total Theatre Award 2015 in the Innovation, Experimentation and Playing with Form category, was nominated for the 2016 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Dance and won the 2017 Rural Touring Dance Initiative award for the “The most inspiring and innovative show.” Paradise Lost  was described as “a virtuoso tour-de-force” by the Stage and Ben has taken the show to far flung parts of the UK since its premiere.

 

For more information click here.

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The lyrics of the Cinematic Orchestra

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The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and electronic music group, created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. In addition to Swinscoe, the band includes former DJ Food member PC (Patrick Carpenter) on turntables, Luke Flowers (drums), Tom Chant (saxophone), Nick Ramm (piano), Stuart McCallum (guitar) and Phil France (double bass). Former members include Jamie Coleman (trumpet), T. Daniel Howard (drums), Federico Ughi (drums), Alex James (piano), and Clean Sadness (synthesizer, programming). The most recent addition to the band is Mancunian guitarist Stuart McCallum. 

 

"To Build a Home“ (the main inspiration to this production) is a piano ballad that serves as the opening track to its companion album, Ma Fleur. It features vocals from Canadian singer-songwriter Patrick Watson, who also has writing credits on the song alongside Phil France and Jason Swinscoe of the Cinematic Orchestra.

 

The iconicn piece of music had a positive reception from music critics. Critics often saw Watson's vocal performance as a highlight on the song. For The Observer, Stuart Nicholson wrote that "Swinscoe transforms three- and four-chord vamps into something special.“

 

‘There is a house built out of stone, wooden floors, walls and window sills, tables and chairs worn by all of the dust. This is a place where I don't feel alone. This is a place where I feel at home (the Cinematic Orchestra).

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