Sealegs

Poet&Musician combo Hymas&Lewis invite you to experience the expanse of the ocean and the confines of an onboard cabin.  In this frontier of tattooes, jackspeak and drownings, Hymas recalls how she, as a twenty year old landlubber, first went to sea, tied herself in knots, learnt to navigate and distinguished spray from fog, ultimately reaping the reward of adventure.

Lewis’s sung voice, acoustic guitar, concertina and shrutibox, and environmental sampling mix with Hymas’s poems, neo-shanties and candid storytelling.

It is a turbulent, joyous 50 minute performance, consuming and illusory, ghostly and enchanting, an experience once felt not forgotten.

Simply staged, Sealegs was performed in a variety of settings in 2014/15. This recording is from StAnza 2015. 

“Sealegs was warm but bracing, humorous, lyrical, compelling. The blend of vivid words with soundscape and distinctive live music made for a delightfully multi-faceted experience. A splendidly approachable demonstration of cross-artform performance.” Chris Bridgeman, Producer Lancaster Litfest

What our audiences have said

You took me beyond the solid edge of things into the rhythms of the sea.
It is a wonderfully hybrid form that I can’t easily compare to anything else I’ve seen.
As a confirmed landlubber I wasn’t sure how much it would speak to me, but it was entrancing and hypnotic. I loved the way you wove your personal story with the myths and cultural associations of the sea.
I felt I’d been on a journey, eerie at first – my hair stood up on the back of my neck – then terror at being lost then the realisation that it’s okay to be lost.
What a great partnership. There’s an unspoken sense of synchronicity.
I’ve never heard anything like it.
Absolutely brilliant. I forgot totally where I was.

Image : Richard Davis