Singer songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Rachel Taylor-Beales has teamed up with award-winning actor-musician Lucy Rivers and Director Louise Osborn, to create and perform a gig-theatre adaptation of Rachel’s most recent album Stone’s Throw, Lament of the Selkie. Using song, music, storytelling and large-scale visual projections, Rachel’s personal experiences of injury and trauma after a dramatic accident, are merged alongside contemporary re-imaginings of selkie folklore myth. Having been awarded Arts Council Wales funding, the tour will open on 10th October in Carmarthenshire’s seaside town of Llanelli, before continuing on to arts centres and theatre venues across South Wales.
Rachel’s highly-developed singing, writing and multi-instrumental talents both seem to know no bounds and observe no boundaries, as she shape-shifts with consummate ease between modes and idioms….her vision is invariably as clear-sighted as her bewitching vocal delivery…there’s always a clear sense of direction to Rachel’s writing, and her imagery is both precise and tantalising in its expression. David Kidman, Folk Radio UK
Describing the show Rachel Taylor-Beales states “At 24 weeks pregnant, I was sporting a huge bump and on tour in rural Italy… Life was good! And then almost everything in my world came literally crashing to a halt, as the result of a serious accident. And it was during this time when I was housebound due to my injuries, (but fortunately still pregnant), that I began to delve into selkie folklore, and this became the inspiration for my 4th studio album. I was thrilled to receive funding from Arts Council Wales to develop the concepts behind my album into a full-length touring show. It is such a privilege to be able to work with my creative team. Louise Osborn our director is innovative and insightful. Her sensitivity to the difficult subject matter that I’m exploring through the traumatic experiences of my own life and daughter’s birth, has enabled me to tackle them with unapologetic confidence. Inviting Lucy Rivers into my collaborative process has been transformative. Lucy plays the character of Selkie, an enigmatic creature and mother with a tortured past and between us we have created a world somewhere on the line where the ocean meets the land, for our stories to merge, entwine, unravel and rebuild”
Director Louise Osborn states “ I love that Rachel is merging elements of her own story with the contemporary version of Selkie mythology. She has managed to create a poetic landscape that is at once funny, mythical, epic and hopeful… I think this honest, raw work, underscored by beautiful songs and music, will have strong resonance for audiences and raise important questions that will linger beyond the evening in the theatre.’
Stone’s Throw, Lament of the Selkie, tours theatres in Wales throughout October 2019 with additional dates now being added for 2020.
Tour Dates
October 10th 2019, Stwidio Stepni, Ffwrnes, Llanelli
October 11th 2019, Seligman Theatre- Chapter, Cardiff
October 12th 2019, Seligman Theatre- Chapter, Cardiff (AD and touch tour available for this performance)
October 16th Span Arts @- Ysgol Caerelen- Haverford West
February 5th 2020, The Welfare, Ystradgynlais
For more information please visit www.racheltaylor-beales.com