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

In October Martin Allen celebrated the life of Quentin Barry, Sara Jones returned to follow up her talk on handbags with the politics of women’s shoes, and keen cyclist Andy Ray took us on a whirlwind tour around an A-Z of Sussex curios.

We’re back in November with jazz singer Barb Jungr, Pestival co-founder Bridget Nichols and mysterious Martin!

In October John Kirk talked about the importance of empathy in storytelling, Fiona McWilliam discussed the politics of knitting and author Michael Smith read from his Hastings’-based memoir, Strangers on the Shore. 
For November we welcome Lewes’ Union Record Store owner Del Ray, Ian Powell and artist Nick Sayers. 

In October Farah Radford took us on a hugely entertaining journey around her exhibition of unfinished projects, Claire Rakich shared her research into the Jake Hutchcraft explored the pre-digital phenomena of penpals from the back of old music magazines.

For November we welcome back (after many years since his last talk) former Big Brother guest psychologist Harry Witchell, a shared talk from Shula Rich and Nicola Smith plus the man, the legend….Andy Burnham! 

And not forgetting resident performer Jane Bom-Bane!

Expect an evening of strange stories, forgotten histories, remarkable music and big ideas—perfect for anyone fascinated by folklore, counterculture, music and the enduring mysteries of what it means to be human.

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.

On a journey spanning over 7,00 years Bramwell explores how the shaman’s ‘death and resurrection show’ is present in everything and everyone from Scrooge, Dr Who, Frida Khalo and David Hoyle to the travelling medicine shows of our ancestors.

Peppered with examples and music from the likes of Nick Cave, Lingua Ingota, Alice Coltrane, Ozzy, David Byrne, Sun Ra, Kate Bush and – of course – Bowie, this talk demonstrates why, in our soul-sick society we need them more than ever before. The show must go on because the show IS the medicine.

David Bramwell is one of Britain’s most distinctive cultural storytellers. A regular contributor to BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, he is the creator of the long-running Catalyst Club, host of the Adventures in Nutopia podcast, frontman of psychedelic folk band Oddfellow’s Casino, and author of numerous books exploring folklore, psychogeography, outsider culture and Britain’s hidden histories, including The Cult of Water, The Odditorium and The Number 9 Bus to Utopia. His stage and radio work has been performed at festivals and venues across the UK, with The Haunted Moustache winning a Sony Radio Award, and The Number 9 Bus to Utopia receiving the Brighton Fringe Award for Best Comedy.

Plus

Filmmaker Jak Hutchcraft presents What Does Dying Sound Like? — an extraordinary journey through jazz, Jesus Christ, heavy metal, ghosts, the Native American Sioux tribe and near-death experiences. Blending film, music and years of original research, Jak explores the relationship between sound, mortality and the human search for meaning. Director of Fatboy Slim: Right Here, Right Now for Sky Documentaries, Jak has written for The Guardian, VICE, The Quietus and Kerrang!

60 minute illustrated talk plus Q&A with James Wright 

Britain can be justifiably proud of approximately 500,000 listed buildings. Yet over half may have been identified incorrectly. Behind a Victorian façade is a Tudor house. Underneath a Georgian frontage is a mediaeval cottage. What is now a farm was once a castle. Many buildings, hundreds of years old, are entirely unlisted. How can a nation, so obsessed with history, have missed so many ancient buildings?
James Wright’s new book,The Buildings Archaeologist, offers clues for discovering the secrets of Britain’s ancient buildings. It looks at the ways in which historic architecture has been observed, studied, and conserved. The puzzles surrounding why some buildings were listed and others overlooked will be solved. It acts as a field guide to the written records, tree-ring dating, and archaeology which help us to investigate the age, development, and social history of ancient buildings. These include houses, castles, churches, mills, factories, and warehouses hidden in plain sight.

With over a quarter of a century of field experience, James Wright explains the fascinating, enigmatic, and surprising world of The Buildings Archaeologist. 

James Wright (Triskele Heritage), is an award-winning buildings archaeologist. He has two decades professional experience of ferreting around in people’s cellars, hunting through their attics and digging up their gardens. He hopes to find meaningful truths about how ordinary and extraordinary folk lived their lives in the mediaeval period. He is the author of Historic Building Mythbusting and The Buildings Archaeologist (The History Press).