We're delighted to announce our three production sponsors for First the Dance, Then the Feast: Henham Park, Ben Wardle Fine Art and L'Escargot Sur Mer. 

Henham Park, just a little way north of our venue Thorington Theatre, is one of the largest listed parks in the country and the home to Latitude Festival. Owned by the Rous family since 1544, the park hosts weddings and events, pop up pizza on Wednesdays and has two beautiful holiday lets. Find out more about this glorious place, which has a fascinating history, at www.henhampark.com.

Ben Wardle is a fabulous local artist based in Snape, Suffolk. He paints stunning landscapes using mixed media, inspired by his time riding horses around the Sandlings area of our AONB. He is especially interested in ecoanxiety and solastalgia (a kind of nostalgia for landscapes lost to climate change) and is currently exhibiting at Ballroom Arts gallery in Aldeburgh. His daughter is one of the children taking part in First the Dance as part of the Snape Primary School class. You can see more about Ben at www.benwardlefineart.net.

L'Escargot Sur Mer are neighbours to WB HQ in Aldeburgh, and the Suffolk coast sister restaurant to the famous L'Escargot in Soho. They're refurbishing to reopen as a boutique hotel with a delicious menu and a stunning wine bar. Opening later this year, you can sign up to their newsletter to be first in line for a truly memorable feast when booking opens. ​https://lescargotsurmer.com.

Huge thanks to all three for supporting First the Dance, Then the Feast. We can't wait to see you all on opening night!

The Wonderful Beast team had a fantastic week last week at our residency developing our upcoming show and workshop series First the Dance, Then the Feast, which has its taster launches in schools tomorrow and Thursday.

The project involves eighty schoolchildren from three Suffolk primary schools - one urban, two rural - where we'll be workshopping through the summer term. The children will then all come together with their parts of the production, to perform with a professional cast and musicians on stage at the magical Thorington Theatre on the 23rd and 24th June.  

We were lucky enough to have the use of the fantastic West Hill Barn for the residency, where some of you will remember having seen a performance of The Last Woodwose back in 2019. We've got the most fantastic creative team (find out who by clicking here) who were hard at work all last week sharing and learning traditional folk songs, dances and music and composing, writing and developing the structure of the play itself. We're hugely excited about what's to come.

You can find out more about the show and who's involved by clicking here, and tickets can be bought through the Thorington Theatre box office.

We are terribly sad to announce the recent death of our wonderful friend, supporter and collaborator, Annie, who was for so many years such an integral part of the company. Together she and I concocted many productions and events, including community operas in our Storm of Stories festivals, for which she generously commissioned composers Richard Chew and John Barber. Her organisation, Children's Music Workshop, co-founded with Jane Pountney (and of which I was fortunate to be a part), provided amazing musical opportunities to thousands of primary school children in deprived areas of London and beyond. Workshops were led by incredibly talented musicians mainly from the Guildhall of Music and Drama, and many of whom, over the years, Wonderful Beast has been lucky enough to recruit for its own productions.
 
Another of Annie’s great achievements was to form ‘Woven Gold’, a refugee choir from the Helen Bamber Foundation. Singing together and performing publicly provided immense solace and joy to everyone involved and to their enthusiastic audiences. None of this would have happened without her vision and energy and determination, together with the leadership of the marvellous  musicians who shared her deep commitment.
 
Above all Annie was a wonderful friend. We travelled to India, Romania, and Spain together and I spent many happy times in Scotland with her. Her beautiful house in London was a place of creativity and activity with people coming and going, where great meals, chats, heart to hearts and huge enjoyment of each other's company took place.  I miss her terribly as does everyone who knew and loved her.

When our Quangle Wangle's Hat Competition Winner Alice Reeves was unable to come to Aldeburgh Bookshop to collect her prize, we posted it off to her in a jiffy (in more senses than one), and her lovely Mummy sent us a photograph of her when it arrived.

Here is Alice, looking very proud - as she should! - brandishing her copy of The Everyman Book of Nonsense Verse, ed. Louise Guinness. Congratulations once again Alice! You can also see her to the right with the original artwork, which we hope is now framed on her wall!