A Day In The Life
In case you didn’t know of Hastings’ unique and varied Arts scene, here’s what was on offer on just one day. I chose the Hastings Philharmonic Ensemble, but there was a plethora to choose from.
Marcio Da Silva
HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC
Opening up the enhanced web page for Hastings Philharmonic, it’s heartening to see and hear a video of last year’s concert highlight, Shunta Morimoto playing Grieg’s A Minor. Under Marcio Da Silva’s direction, this small orchestra is now on a par with the best in the country, and the choir are delighted to accomplish great oratorios, stretched to unexpected heights of performance – in November they will be tackling Beethoven’s 9th – Ode to Joy – at the White Rock. Freude, schöner Götterfunken!
The Saturday concert a couple of weeks ago at Christ Church was a smaller affair, but no less accomplished. The HPO Ensemble is a subsection of the orchestra, with added specialist musicians. They played a nonet by Louise Farrenc, a brilliant and very stylish 19th century composer whose work is in a gradual process of being rediscovered.
This is long overdue. The nonet is elegant and beautiful, with a terrific scherzo. While scherzo (as I’m sure you know) means a joke, the joke seems to be that it’s usually fast and complex, yet ‘to be played in a playful manner’. In this case these nine players negotiated its elegant transitions with evident joy, the whole thing reminiscent of a nineteenth-century salon party, but maybe accompanied by the sound of Napoleon’s soldiers marching down the street outside.
The thing about a small-orchestra arrangement is that there’s only one of everything; it puts a burden of exactitude on each performer – any mistakes are of course exposed. But an unusual arrangement of Beethoven’s Eroica, played as well as this, allowed the audience to ponder anew at the fullness of Beethoven, the marvellous cadences and harmonies, the dynamic contrasts, the unexpected but complete architecture of the whole thing. Everything is there; the changes of tempo, the dramatic chords, the dancing rhythms – without Beethoven there’d be no film music, no theatrical accompaniment. In fact, most are sure that the musical world would be wholly different. Beethoven never has quite rolled over.
Da Silva thanked the audience for coming, since, he acknowledged, there was enormous local choice.
POET-A-THON RECORD
It’s true. We could have been entertained by Tim Barlow’s Poet-a-thon at the Hot Tap Theatre, which over thirteen continuous hours broke the record for the longest continuous poetry reading in the UK. At the crucial twelfth hour Henry Normal smashed the record, now 13 hours not 12. You could drop in and out of this at any time, and it was highly entertaining and cheerful. The quality of poetry, in this town, is not strain’d.
BATTLE OF HASTINGS
Though not strictly an Arts activity, this annual re-enactment took place all day in the grounds of Battle Abbey, twice in one weekend. By all accounts it was fantastic, though after watching all day you’d be glad to go to the pub in the evening.
LATE NIGHT GROOVES
So if you are a fan of the more unusual local music acts (of which there are plenty) you could have gone for a Total Khaos drum-and-bass DJ session at The Pig, or indeed a whole one-day rock/indie festival, Ummagumma, at The Piper in Norman Road (Harry Hawkins’ review appears elsewhere in this section, and in full on our web page). If you don’t know, Ummagumma is the name of a Pink Floyd Album made in 1969 when they were still an underground sensation, before they became irreversibly mainstream. The ‘Grantchester Meadows’ days.
ABBA FOREVER
Or, on that same evening, you could have gone instead to see a live (not holographic) re-creation of Abba, with all their greatest hits, at the White Rock. Since being taken over by the Guildhall Trust, The theatre has put on a stellar number and variety of shows, guaranteed to please all comers. For lovers of classical music they have housed the International Piano Competition as well as the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra; they’ve put on a big comedy festival, school programs for the holidays, and bingo for the friendly flutterers. They’ve launched a whole new studio space too, and shown evenings of burlesque and ballet. There’s been a grand Mardi Gras [Fat Tuesday] ball, a story of Guitar Heroes, a Night in Nashville, an evening with Harry Hill, the annual huge Beatles Day performances, and a Fleetwood Mac tribute concert. The theatre is an exceptional local resource for the whole community, well used and well loved.
UNIT 2
If you prefer esoteric art, you could have gone to a newly-opened gallery at 8-10 London Road, which seems suddenly to have appeared in St Leonards replacing what used to be a shop full of interesting vintage, quasi-vintage, or definitely kitsch items. Currently showing is a radical exhibition of women’s art work called BattleAxe, curated by Bee Nicholls (also the gallery’s director) and in support of the feminist organisation Women’s Voice. Expect to be by turns shocked, puzzled, instructed, and occasionally enchanted. You could also have seen Julia Svetlova’s uniquely surreal photographs of everyday life, Soaked in Daydreams.
BARNABY’S
While Barnaby Davies himself successfully co-promoted Hastings’ first own Jazz Festival at the beginning of this month, Barnaby’s Lounge continues to host quality art and music. On this same weekend you could have watched Acoustic Originals, or in the evening stomped to Stormy T’s Swingin’ Jump Blues and Retro. Barnaby’s has recently acquired its own special chef, so expect a great selection of food and cocktails, twelve-o’-clocktails, as well.
FILMS
Or you could simply have gone to the Kino-teatr and seen the Downton Abbey final film along with a display case full of lovely old tin toys, Michael Buhler’s collection. At the Electric Palace in the Old Town you could have watched a Doctor Who/Cyberman special, with an introductory talk. Or you could have gone to Hastings Odeon and watched I Swear, a brand-new, just released film about the experience of growing up with Tourette’s syndrome.
MUSEUM
Lastly you may not know that there are currently five different exhibitions showing at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery, which must be one of our most under-publicised resources. All interesting, all local.
Who said small towns are boring?
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply