Shoreham Catalyst Club March 19th
In February we learned about the 2WW Idle Women of the Inland Waterways (who were far from idle) from musician Phil jones, cinephile Linsay McCulloch shared her passion for the 1945 film noir Detour and Pete Fij did a Q&A with one of Worthing’s octogenarian living legends – clown and circus performer Buzz.
For March we welcome folklorist Mark Dishman, storyteller Darren Hill and esteemed author and R4 broadcaster Rebecca Stott with a fascinating subject that she has explored in her novels and radio documentaries.
Bom-Bane’s Folk Horror Film and Ice Cream Club present: In Fabric
Dir Peter Strickland 2018
A maniacal haunted dress stalks down victim after victim while a coven of hairless shop-girls cavorts with their gynaecologically-correct store mannequins during off-hours. Classic Peter Strickland and arguably the most playful of his four films to date (which include Duke of Burgundy and Berberian Sound Studio). Dazzlingly original and always off-kilter, Strickland throws themes of giallo cinema and fetishism into the mix with a cast that includes Noel Fielding, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and former Brighton residents Barry Adamson and Gwendoline Christie. The perfect reverberating note between comedy and horror.
The Odditorium presents: John Doran's Aphex Twin and Cornish Culture
During a family holiday in Cornwall, writer and broadcaster John Doran decided to drag his long-suffering family around as many Aphex Twin related places of interest as they could reach in one day, taking in the curious speaker cone shaped amphitheatre the Gwennap Pit, the dreamlike coastal settlement of St Michael’s Mount and the mysterious Logan Rock. The jaunt became the basis of Selected Ambient Walks: Aphex Twin And Cornish Mythology, a lecture to be presented at The Bosco in full 5.1 AFX Vision*. The talk draws many links between the tin mining industry, West Country witches, the legend of Merlin’s keep, state vandalism of the Logan rock, Michel Foucault and the stunning history of the Cornish pasty.
John Doran is the co-founder and editor of the Quietus website. He is a regular guest and presenter on BBC Radio. He wrote and presented the award winning documentary In Search Of Aphex Twin for BBC Radio 4 and wrote and presented Radio 4’s New Weird Britain series.
*it’s a Powerpoint slide show with some music
The Odditorium and Stone Club present: The Stone Folk with Simon Costin, Katy Soar, Philip Carr-Gomm
Join us for a deep dive into the folklore of standing stones. We explore Sussex’s monuments old and new with David Bramwell and Philip Carr-Gomm. Katy Soar editor of Circles of Stone (British Library Tales of the Weird) and Strange Relics (Handheld Press) will take us on a journey into the ancient rites and sights of Pagan Britain, and Simon Costin of The Museum of British Folklore will discuss folk customs, costumes and preserving folk histories with Stone Club’s Matthew Shaw. Plus a 1953 Folk Film special.
Simon Costin is the founder and director of the Museum of British Folklore and the director of the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. He is best known for his catwalk show designs for Alexander McQueen.
Katy Soar is Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at Winchester University. In addition to Circles of Stone and Strange Relics Katy has written on folk horror in the Routledge Companion to Folk Horror, Hellebore Zine and the Hellebore Guide to Occult Britain.
Philip Carr-Gomm is an author in the fields of psychology and Druidry, a psychologist, and one of the leaders and former Chosen Chief of The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.
The Odditorium presents: Natalie Sharp's (aka Lone Taxidermist) MARRA
Marra is a deep interrogation into the dialect and ceremonies of West Cumbria, endangered voices and esoteric rituals from auctioneers to gurners. A set of short films comprise music, art and general all-pervasive weirdness as Sharp documents her experience as a second-generation immigrant in a small northwestern farmers town.
From Eskdale sheep dances to the Seychelles Sega, Sharp’s ancestors bounce in the sand singing in sugar cane plantations as the World’s Greatest Liar spins a tale from the south lakes. Climb the greasy pole and smoke the fastest pipe, catch the apples from Egremont crab fair. And why are all these Cumbrians turning their faces inside out? Reigning champion of the worlds ugliest face, Tommy Mattinson, contorts his face into a wolf. Then it’s time for a wrestle in your long johns over the frozen lake Windermere. Entropy at its finest. Transcend into chaos with the Cumbrians!
Natalie Sharp is a British artist, musician, and radical body activist of dual heritage, at the forefront of what The Quietus described as ‘New Wyrd Britain’. Her work is rooted in radical body activism, aiming to challenge ableist structures and promote a more inclusive society.
@Nat__Sharp. www.nataliesharp.co.uk
The Odditorium presents: Nothing Short of a Total War!
Exist beyond so-called norms in this unique evening of startling and transgressive performance art that looks to the future but also pays tribute to the legacies of sound pioneers Throbbing Gristle, Genesis P.Orridge, Fist-F***, the anti-art happenings of Coum Transmissions, the occult and sex magick themes of Coil and the sigil-driven ‘modern primitives’ cult of Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth.
DEER PARK (DIR. ANDREW FINCH)
Tracing a psychogeographic link between East Sussex, London and Somerset, Andrew’s newest work weaves through landscapes inhabited by Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV and Coil, unearthing a treasure map into the dark woods of British industrial music. Live accompaniment from Ghostlore of Britain.
SOFT BODIES (MIKE SEFTON)
Mike Sefton performs with film, electronic music, his own not-voice, and the disembodied voices of the neither dead nor living to interrogate the vulnerability of the body – how it holds the surfaces and depths of our psyche and the place of our mysteries, subjectivities, pleasures, harms and histories.
RAW UNKNOWN (JILL WESTWOOD)
An audio-visual-poetic encounter as Jill Westwood (ex. of female power electronics duo FistF***) delves into the materiality of her ‘life as art’ experiences, feeling into the sacred and RAW UNKNOWN and asking, “What lies hidden in the depths of the unconscious waiting to be felt by the touch of art?” ‘
COUM FLAKES
Led by Foxtrot Echo – one of Coum’s early offshoot members – this live collective hold dear the COUM mission to shake up expectations using light, sound, noise, filmic, spasmodic, fluidic, balletic and the artistic’ .
The Odditorium presents: David Bramwell's Haunted Moustache
After inheriting a century-old moustache in a box, David Bramwell embarks on a ten-year odyssey to discover all he can about its former owner – a former freak show host – and why this object had fallen into his possession. His quest draws him into the underbelly of Brighton – its séances, spiritual churches and a seedy basement club – where he unwittingly becomes the host of a modern-day freakshow. Coming to believe that his ‘hairloom’ is possessed, Bramwell joins a cult, dabbles with Amazonian psychedelics and, well, goes a bit loopy. Can he uncover the occult secrets of his singular inheritance before his sanity gives in? Where does Salvador Dali fit into all of this? And who is the mysterious Drako Zarharzar?
This award-winning monologue is a supernatural coming-of-age story, an exploration into magic and an affectionate portrayal of Brighton’s rich counterculture.
‘Such fabulous material crafted into a piece that sometimes runs ahead of even the performer himself. A five star show to watch more than once’ Fringe Review
‘An exceptional storyteller who weaves the truth about a strange inheritance into a hypnotic tale of obsession’ Radio Times
‘Neurologically, this will light you up like a Christmas tree’ Alan Moore
Directed by Nicky Haydn