Silents by the Sea is a weekend of live music and big-screen cinema entertainment in the stunning surroundings of Morecambe’s magnificent Winter Gardens theatre.
Over the festival weekend, a community of musicians from Morecambe, Lancaster, and beyond will create live film music for beautiful films from the early years of cinema - visit silentsbythesea.com for the full line-up of musicians.
Why not get involved? We’re recruiting a small team of volunteers to help run the festival, and you can be part of the music by joining The People’s Cinematic
Voices, our innovative new improvising vocal ensemble. Visit the website to find out more.
We’re thrilled to be working once again with the Winter Gardens’ wonderful team of volunteers, under the leadership of Professor Vanessa Toulmin - without them, none of this would be possible. Our collaboration with Morecambe’s More Music also continues, and we are grateful to the team there for their continued support.
See you at Silents by the Sea!
JonnyTickets at silentsbythesea.com
Artistic Director
Jonny Best
Orchestral Conductor
Helen Harrison
Marketing Manager
Olivia Kehoe
Technical Manager
Symon Payne
Orchestral Fixer
Liz Hanks
Graphic Designer
Paul Terry for Second on the Left
Trailer Editor
Andrew Burns
Photographer
Timm Cleasby
Silents by the Sea is supported with funding from the National Lottery by Arts Council England and Film Hub North on behalf of BFI’s Film Audience Network. The festival is also funded by Lancashire County Council and Morecambe Town Council.
Thanks to Maria Chiba at FPA Classics; Juliet Copeland at Roy Export S.A.S.; Ben McCabe at More Music; Huttson Lo, Andrew Beadling, Manon Euler and all at Film Hub North; Sandra Lemons. Special thanks to Janet Swan for proposing a wonderful idea.
WITH LIVE MUSIC PERFORMED BY NORTHERN SILENTS
SINFONIA CONDUCTED BY HELEN HARRISON, AND NEIL BRAND, PIANO
Charlie Chaplin ™ © Bubbles Incorporated
Saturday 8 June | 7.30pm - 9.45pm | Doors 7.00pm
The lush sounds of a live orchestra combine with Charlie Chaplin’s heartwarming comedy to open the first Silents by the Sea festival.
Charlie Chaplin’s loveable tramp rescues an orphan from the street and together they cause delightful mayhem. Drawing on Chaplin’s own experience of poverty and life on the rundown London streets of his youth, The Kid is the first feature-length appearance of Chaplin’s iconic tramp character and made an international star of sevenyear-old Jackie Coogan.
Making its debut, the sixteenstrong Northern Silents Sinfonia will play Chaplin’s own score for The Kid, under the musical direction of Lancashire-born conductor Helen Harrison.
Broadcaster and composer Neil Brand will start the evening off at the piano, accompanying two of Chaplin’s short comedies.
Sunday 9 June | 2.00pm - 3.30pm
Doors 1.30pm
WITH LIVE MUSIC PERFORMED BY FRAME ENSEMBLE, OFF THE RAILS CREATIVE JAZZ ORCHESTRA, GUILLERMO ROZENTHULER & JAKA ŠKAPIN, THE PEOPLE’S CINEMATIC VOICES, NEIL BRAND
Immerse yourself in a musical cornucopia of fantastical adventures, mind-teasing illusions, and shimmering visions from the very beginnings of cinema.
In December 1895, a young Paris magician attended the first demonstration of moving pictures - a year later, Georges Méliès had built his own camera and started to experiment. But rather than record ordinary life as so many early film makers were content to do, Méliès unleashed his imagination, creating bizarre and beautiful cinematic visions of angels and aliens, shooting stars and spaceships.
Silents by the Sea brings together a selection of Méliès’ creations, including his most famous, A Trip to the Moon, side by side with films by his Spanish counterpart, Segundo de Chomon, and others.
Hosted by broadcaster and composer Neil Brand, with an introduction by Professor Vanessa Toulmin, Chair of Morecambe Winter Gardens Preservation Trust.
A SMORGASBORD OF MUSICAL TALENT FROM MORECAMBE, LANCASTER, AND AROUND THE NORTH OF ENGLAND WILL BRING THIS SHOW TO LIFE, INCLUDING OFF THE RAILS CREATIVE JAZZ ORCHESTRA , FRAME ENSEMBLE , NEIL BRAND, AND SILENTS BY THE SEA’S NEW VOCAL GROUP, THE PEOPLE’S CINEMATIC VOICES .
The People’s Cinematic Voices is your opportunity to be part of the soundtrack for this afternoon’s show by using your own voice.
Leading up to the festival, we are running a series of accessible and fun group singing sessions in Morecambe and Lancaster, suitable for people with or without previous experience who want to have a go at improvising and explore their creativity.
FRAME ENSEMBLE IS THE UK’S LEADING MUSICAL GROUP SPECIALISING IN LIVE IMPROVISED FILM SCORING. THEY ARE LIZ HANKS (CELLO), TREVOR BARTLETT (PERCUSSION), IRINE RØSNES (VIOLIN) AND JONNY BEST (PIANO).
Before King Kong, Godzilla, and Jurassic Park, there was… The Lost World. The very first dinosaur adventure film (1925) brings Silents by the Sea to an epic finale.
The somewhat eccentric Professor Challenger leads an expedition to South America to prove that dinosaurs still inhabit a remote corner of the Amazon. With stop-motion animation by Willis O’Brien (who would go on to create King Kong a few years later), The Lost World brings all the thrills of Conan Doyle’s fantastical story to the big screen for the very first time.
Bruce Bennett, professor in Film Studies at Lancaster University, will introduce the film.
Saturday 8 June | 6.00pm - 6.45pm
Pratfalls, chaos, custard pies and other mishaps - why is slapstick comedy funny and what is happening in our brains when we laugh?
Professor Sophie Scott, world-acknowledged expert in the neuroscience of comedy, joins composer and broadcaster Neil Brand to explore what is going on in our heads when we laugh at silent film comedy.
Sunday 9 June | 4.00pm - 4.45pm
How do improvising musicians create music out of thin air?
Silents by the Sea’s band of players reveal their secrets.
Much of the music at Silents by the Sea is invented on the spur of the moment by the musicians, as they watch the film. How do they know what to play? Where do their ideas come from? Why does the score never grind to a halt?
Northern Silents Artistic Director hosts an engaging, illustrated conversation and audience Q&A with festival musicians. This event is suitable for musicians and non-musicians alike.
Your Brain on Slapstick
6.00pm - free
The Kid
7.30pm - £20 adult, £15 over 60, £10 student, £5 claimant, free 18 & under & carer
Marvellous Méliès: The Magician of Cinema
2.00pm - £12.50 adult, £10 over 60, £7 student, £4 claimant, free 18 & under & carer
On the Spot: Making Improvised Music
4.00pm - free
The Lost World
5.30pm - £15 adult, £12 over 60, £8 student, £4.50 claimant, free 18 & under & carer
Great value festival passes are available including entry to all events on Saturday & Sunday £40 adult, £30 over 60, £20 student, £10 claimant, free 18 & under & carer
Morecambe Winter Gardens
209 Marine Road
Morecambe LA4 4BU
morecambewintergardens.co.uk
Morecambe Bus Station and Morecambe Train Station are both a short walk behind the Winter Gardens. There is a large pay and display car park on the seafront opposite the Winter Gardens.
Also discounted all-day passes for Sunday: £25 adult, £20 over 60, £13.50 student, £7.50 claimant, free 18 & under & carer
Resident organist at Morecambe Winter Gardens, Peter Jetson, will be performing before each show.
For accommodation listings, visit exploremorecambebay.org.uk & visitlancashire.com
Would you like to help run the festival? There are volunteering opportunities across the weekend, and leading up to event itself. If you’d like to get involved, find out more at northernsilents.com/volunteer
Tickets at silentsbythesea.com
