3rd September: The Long Good Friday + Theatreship Crossing + live folk session by Barrett & Dudley
We’re kicking of Thames Tuesdays with the brilliant film: Long Good Friday. Perhaps the most iconic film to feature the East London docks (Theatreship’s home) this BAFTA nominated gangster thriller opened the London Film Festival in 1980, and has stood the test of time as a gritty picture of gang warfare in London during the rise of Thatcher. The film was oddly prescient in charting the trajectory of the docks to what they are today, and came out right at the start of the redevelopment project that eventually became Canary Wharf.
Join us before the film for a screening of Joel Court’s short film of the North Sea passage of Theatreship - about the latest addition to the ever-changing landscape of the docks - us! There’ll be a brief Q&A with Project director Inigo Lapwood.
Stay around afterwards for live folk music in the Theatreship bar by duo Barrett and Dudley, honouring the long history of live music and shared social space among the people living and working in the docks, both before their redevelopment and after.
10th September: The Host + Thames Whale + Owen Spafford Trio
Watch The Host (2006) by multi Oscar winning director Bong Joon-ho (Parasite, Snowpiercer, & Okja). The film follows the actions of a family in Seoul who are forced to fight back after a mysterious monster emerges from the Han River.
Before the film we’ll listen to Joseph June Bond’s award winning audio piece ‘Thames Whale’: a sonic submersion into extraordinary reports - dating back to the seventeenth century - of whales in the River Thames. The piece will be introduced by Joseph themselves.
After the film, stay for a live performance by BBC Young Composer and Folk musician Owen Spafford of his contemporary re-arrangement of a traditional folk melody ‘The Greenland Whale’ - linking these modern stories of rivers (and the creatures they contain) back to their ancient roots.
17th - L'Atalante + Last of the Watermen + world premiere of rediscovered river folk music
Jean Vigo’s masterpiece, L’Atalante (1933) is consistently rated within the top 10 films of the 20th Century. This timeless classic depicts a newly married ship's captain and his wife, Juliette, as they adapt to their life as watermen on the French canals, delivering cargo on their ship, L'Atalante. Warm-hearted, technically brilliant, and consistently engaging - the film remains one of the greatest ever made and is a personal favourite of the Theatreship team.
We’re screening L’Atalante in a double feature alongside David Kew’s short documentary Last of the Watermen (2013). The film follows one of the Thames’ longest serving watermen and lightermen - Peter Duggan. Continuing the tradition of the watermen in L’Atalante right up to the present day. Peter was born and bred on the banks of the Thames in Wapping, has been a tug skipper since anyone can remember and is one of the last great characters still working on London's river (retired as of 2020). Joined by director David Kew who will be providing a personal introduction to his short film.
After the films, join us for live performances in the bar of traditional Bargee folk music. There’s a long tradition of live music among the people living and working on the river. Academic, DJ, and electronic folk musician Izzy Walters has unearthed and recovered some of these now-forgotten melodies and will be premiering them at Theatreship in a unique live performance. This performance has been put together with help from the wonderful archivists, librarians and staff at Cecil Sharpe House’s Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, the archive of the EFDSS (English Folk Dance and Song Society).
