Be inspired and entertained as three guest speakers talk on a subject close to their heart.

Expect everything from local history, art, philosophy, culture and folklore, to the history of Marmite, Asperger’s, bad waxworks, Plato’s Republic, slime mould, and how to fend off a bear attack!

Speakers are booked in advance; topics are kept top secret until the night!

Hosted by author and BBC radio presenter Dr David Bramwell, in partnership with Ropetackle and Shoreham Wordfest.

Guest speakers this month are: Sarah Watson, Nick Sayers, Linsay McCulloch

In July we learned about countercultural philosopher Alan Watts from your host, Sarah Watson took us on a time machine journey into Piper’s vision of the UK (via the Shell Guides), and Barbara Chamberlin explored the theme of Sussex witches through some gorgeous paper cut artwork. 
We’re taking a short holiday over summer and returning Sept 9th with Sara Jones, Elizabeth Darling and…Andy Burnham! 

In August Bernard Hill shared his sketchbook mystery and some dazzling art inspired by songs; Dave Green revealed his process of creating art through lucid dreaming, and Helen Anahita Wilson took us on a musical journey with the deadly nightshade family which culminated in her playing the theme tune to The Infinite Monkey Cage on potatoes. 
We return Sept 10th with sound artist Julian Weaver, Hastings’ author Michael Smith and historian Marissa Linton. 
Plus music and songs from Eliza Skelton and Jane Bom-Bane. 

Is ancient shamanism hiding in plain sight in theatre, magic, and rock n’ roll? A talk and book launch with David Bramwell at the beautiful Electric Palace cinema in Hastings.
Why do we imbue the likes of David Bowie, Bjork and Taylor Swift with god-like status? As the lights dim and performers take to the stage, is it mere escapism from our everyday lives or is there something more profound and ritualised about our need to be entertained?

In this entertaining and thought provoking monologue through the wilder corners of modern entertainment history David Bramwell shares the idea that shamanism never disappeared in western culture. Instead, it donned a cunning disguise and took the ‘show’ on the road, hidden in plain sight in everything from theatre and magic to rock’n’roll.

David Bramwell is a performer, author, musician and creator of The No9 Bus to Utopia,The Haunted Moustache, Ghosts of the Medicine Show, The Cult of Water. He is one half of the popular show, Singalong-A-Wicker-Man. His monologue ,The Haunted Moustache, was recently turned into a film, produced and co-directed by Andy Starke (Field in England, Scalarama!, Duke of Burgundy, Kill List).

Ticket price includes a £5 discount on the book price.

David will also be screening his film The Haunted Moustache at 8pm with a director’s Q&A.

An epic quest to unlock the mystery of an occult heirloom takes David Bramwell into the underbelly of 90’s bohemian Brighton.

After inheriting a hundred-year-old moustache from an eccentric great aunt, Bramwell sets out to discover all he can about its former owner, Ambrose Oddfellow. Drawn into Brighton’s subcultures, he participates in seances, visits spiritual churches and unwittingly becomes the temporary host of a modern-day ‘freakshow’ in a basement club.

Beginning to believe that his hairy heirloom is possessed, Bramwell joins a cult, dabbles with telepathy-inducing psychedelics and has a mind-bending vision. Can he solve the mystery of his inheritance before his sanity gives in? And what of the mysterious Drako Oho Zarhazar, a former Dali model who appears to be somehow linked to his prized possession?

In the tradition of Spalding Gray, The Haunted Moustache is a film of Bramwell’s funny and affecting monologue – a modern day fireside tale served on a bed of celluloid.

We are thrilled to welcome star and writer David Bramwell for a live Q and A after the film. He will also be at Electric Palace at 6pm for his talk and book launch for ‘From Shaman to Starman: The Secret History of Live Entertainment’. 

Written & Performed by DAVID BRAMWELL
Made by STEWART ARMSTRONG, EMMA KILBEY, EDWARD MILLS, LAURIE ROSE BSC, MARTIN PAVEY, ANDY STARKE, STANLEY WHITE-STARKE
Music by ODDFELLOWS CASINO

With Simon Costin, Dr Barbara Chamberlin, Dr Helen Cornish and music from The Claras

Introducing Joan Wytte, an alleged Cornish witch, whose skeleton hung in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic for nearly forty years before being repatriated to the earth in 1998. The life of Joan Wytte remains vital in storytelling, performance, and pilgrimage. Her place in witchcraft ancestry seems secure. It is unlikely however, that Joan ever existed.
Across talks by Simon Costin, Dr Barbara Chamberlin, and Dr Helen Cornish, and original songs written and performed by The Claras, we celebrate and interrogate the Afterlife of a Cornish Witch, Joan Wytte and her stories.

Simon Costin 
Simon is the Director of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall, the world’s largest repository of artefacts and archive material relating to Witchcraft and magical practise. He will discuss the history of the museum, its founder, Cecil Williamson, and how the skeleton arrived in the museum and what evidence he gave for her story.

The Claras
Sussex-based folk duo The Claras (Clare McGlone and Claire Rakich) combine harp and harmonies to perform traditional songs and story-inspired originals. For this event The Claras have used the work of Helen Cornish and Barbara Chamberlin to create two original songs about the women behind the witchcraft – Joan Wytte and the unsung unknowns. 

Dr. Barbara Chamberlin 
Starting from a blurred memory of a witch and a museum, Barbara and her collaborator Jess Marlton, went in search of Joan Wytte to try and tell her story. In this illustrated talk, Barbara shares their version of Joan Wytte’s life and afterlife, from her life as a cunning person in Bodmin through to her final resting place, and in doing so, explores ways that papercut can reflect the many gaps in her story. Dr Barbara Chamberlin is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Brighton. 

Dr. Helen Cornish 
Dr Cornish examines where Joan’s story is – and isn’t – found in the archives. It takes some surprising twists to a London anatomy museum and an American art gallery before considering how Joan is recreated anew for new generations who find diverse meanings in these stories.
Dr Helen Cornish is an Anthropologist and lecturer on the MA in Folklore Studies at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research has focused on contemporary Witchcraft – with the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Cornwall as a key research site.

Hosted by David Bramwell, Helen Cornish, and Barbara Chamberlain

Mark Farrelly (Quentin Crisp: Naked Hope, Howerd’s End, Jarman) presents his riveting, kinetic solo show portraying one of the great English writers of the inter-war years. Patrick Hamilton was a dazzling success in his twenties, producing hit plays Rope (filmed by Hitchcock) Gaslight (which gave us the modern term ‘gaslighting’), and classic novels Hangover Square and The Slaves of Solitude. But Hamilton was also an alcoholic, whose wit darkened as his inner and outer worlds collapsed.

Covering the entire sweep of Hamilton’s thrilling life and writing, The Silence of Snow entertains and challenges, asking: why do so many of us get through life without feeling we ever truly knew another person?
Running time: 70 mins no interval

​Written and performed by Mark Farrelly
Directed by Linda Marlowe

★★★★ “You won’t be able to take your eyes off this magnetic actor Mark Farrelly. He inhabits the character of Hamilton with a blazing fluidity” The Times

★★★★ “Horrifyingly funny snapshot of the wit, novelist and playwright…brilliant” The Spectator