Swift Wings & the Cult of Water
An immersive evening of mesmerising melodies, pagan poetry and spoken word in the beautiful ambience of St Andrew’s Church, Steyning.
Featuring SWIFT WINGS, a spoken-word and live-music performance by Justin Hopper and Sharron Kraus, based on their album of the same name, and THE CULT OF WATER, a captivating monologue by David Bramwell accompanied by music, animation, the voice of Alan Moore and archive film.
ABOUT SWIFT WINGS
SWIFT WINGS is a haunting performance piece featuring Justin Hopper reading Victor Neuberg’s Sussex landscape poems, set to Kraus’s original music performed live on recorders, flutes, synths & vocals, with hypnotic visuals by Wendy Pye.
The poet Victor Neuburg is best known for his early, tragic relationship with the infamous Aleister Crowley and, later, for ‘discovering’ Dylan Thomas. But he was also a prolific writer and poet, and ran a small publishing press from his home in Vine Cottage in Steyning during the 1920’s, publishing writers from the Bohemian subculture.
Writer Justin Hopper has long been fascinated by Neuberg, and in 2022 published the book ‘Obsolete Spells‘, which collects Neuberg’s Sussex poems and Vine Press oddities along with essays. Justin is also the author of Old Weird Albion, a psycho-geographical meander along the South Downs Way.
Sharron Kraus is a weaver of musical spells best described as “‘Pagan radiophonica meets medieval balladry”…
ABOUT THE CULT OF WATER
David Bramwell will take you on a magical odyssey, in search of the occult secrets of our rivers, and a drowned village which has long haunted his memories.
From his roots in Doncaster, Bramwell travels up the river Don and back in time, through the ladybird plague and drought of 1976 to the heavily polluted Don of Sheffield’s steel industry, up into the Pennines and back into a pre-Christian era when rivers and springs were worshipped as living deities. Along the journey Bramwell battles with his own thalassophobia (the fear of ‘what lurks beneath’); learns about hydromancy from magician Alan Moore, and encounters Jarvis Cocker on his own adventures, sailing down the Don on an inflatable inner tube…. His journey finally brings him face to face with the goddess of primordial waters, Danu, who gave her name to the Don.
David Bramwell is a writer, musician, broadcaster and performer who also organises the popular Catalyst Club events in Brighton & elsewhere. His other books include The Haunted Moustache, No9 Bus to Utopia, The Odysseum and The Mysterium, and his podcast, Adventures in Nutopia, is well worth a listen!
THE EVENING WILL ALSO FEATURE
A short talk by Victor Neuberg’s daughter Caroline Neuberg on her father’s life, work & legacy.
EVENT INFO:
Doors open 7pm. Performance starts 7.30pm.
There will be a bar serving local ales, cheap plonk & soft drinks.
There is a large car park at Fletcher’s Croft, opposite the church.
There is a bus service running hourly buses from Shoreham-by-Sea to Steyning.
