Erin Kavanagh
- An 'Amodern' Antiquarian -
Stories, Songs, Science
& the Sea...
...was a project led by Peter Stevenson, involving myself and Lynne Denman. It stems from my research into the geomythological deep mapping of Cardigan Bay. We take people on a seaside walk, stopping periodically for a natural stage on which Peter tells a woven tale of shore stories, Lynne sings of the sea and I recite The King of the Sea Trees from Layers in the Landscape.
A Crankie is an Appalachain animation, a reel of paper on which images are drawn/painted/
projected to tell a story, then cranked in a rolling action within a wooden frame. The result can be presented live or/and recorded onto film.
In rehearsal
In the evening, as I wrote an epilogue Peter rolled up the reel of frames and placed it in the Crankie. Then he, Lynne and I performed the whole story walk again, only this time it was illustrated by the audience.
The route along Aberystwyth promenade
Myself, Lynne & Peter at 'kick the rail'. Photo by R.M.Parry
Our first foray out with this idea was funded by Cymerau
to be part of a series of water themed performances for their Spring (no pun intended) event. Not only did we take a large group of people out on a walk along Borth beach with stories, songs and science; but afterwards Peter taught everyone how to make a Crankie reel.
Comfortably ensconsed in the Borth Youth Hostel people took our script and chose themselves a frame to illustrate. Together they discussed the geology, archaeology, history, folklore and art of the beach, drawing a tapestry of participatory culture together to illustrate the walk's narrative.
