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WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL PROGRAMME June 30 - July 2nd 2023

Friday 30 June Alnwick Playhouse Auditorium 7.30 KARINE POLWART & DAVE MILLIGAN: Songs of Tree and River, Stone and Sea

Seven-time winner at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Karine Polwart is a Scottish songwriter, composer, theatre-maker and author.  Recent projects include The Lost Words, Spell Songs, a multi-artist response to environmental loss and climate breakdown,  Wind Resistance, her peatbog-inspired theatre show for Edinburgh International Festival. Enough is Enough Karine’s song for Cop 26 has been streamed over 300,000 times on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz8ex7Mnjb4


 Dave Milligan is a leading figure in the diverse Scottish music scene. His musical imagination flows freely between multiple genres, most notably in the worlds of jazz and celtic music.


Songs of River and Tree, Stone and Sea weaves Karine’s songs and Dave’s subtle piano accompaniments into an uplifting concert that explores the many ways we interact with the rest of the natural world. 

Special guests Werca’s Folk, Northumberland-based choir.


Tickets £12 / 18s and under £3


Book Tickets

Saturday 1st July Alnwick Playhouse Studio Hub 10.30 QUEEN of the BIRDS

 The Kingdom of Birds is looking for a leader. All across the sky, birds are flocking together.

Karine Polwart brings to life this vivid story of leadership and resilience, diversity and collaboration. Using storytelling and song, sound and creative movement and fun quizzes, it’s suitable for 4 to 8 year olds and their families. 


£5 / 18s and under £2


Book Tickets

Saturday 1st July Alnwick Playhouse Bill Hugonin Auditorium 2.30 WATERSHED The Journey of a River & The Journey of an Activist


Watershed focusses the ideas, energy and enthusiasm of local young performers on challenges ahead. This two part performance of songs, dance and drama was created specially for this festival under the expert guidance of experienced stage professionals ,Susie Cochrane, Cheryl Stewart and Chloe Smith. The threats to our rivers, lakes and coastal waters are seen through the eyes of the generation who will inherit the serious problems left by previous generations. 


£5 / 18s and under £2

Book Tickets

Saturday 1st July Alnwick Playhouse Studio Hub 5.00 Film - THE OIL MACHINE


 How our reliance on oil developed and the threats it now poses to life on Earth. The film explores our economic, historical and emotional entanglement with oil by looking at the conflicting imperatives around North Sea oil.


£5 / 18s and under £2


Book Tickets

Saturday 1st July Alnwick Playhouse Bill Hugonin Auditorium 7.30 IMAGINING THE FUTURE

Four speakers share their unique perspectives on the future of our planet. 

Damian Cruden, CEO and Artistic Director, Alnwick Playhouse, 

What role can the Arts play in helping us to imagine and achieve a greener future.

Paul Brannen, Visiting Professor of Innovation and Enterprise at Newcastle University, 


New ways of replacing steel and concrete with wood in the built environment

 Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Science, Research & Digital. 


An engineer’s view on the potential for renewable technologies across the globe.  






Aidan Harrison, retired local farmer 


Can we balance food security, biodiversity and local communities?












Tamara Ullyart, a young person’s view of the threats and possibilities ahead.



Tickets - see below




The evening continues after the Interval with - BIODIVERSIONARY TACTICS Tim Dalling sings Unsustainable Songs

Specially for this festival ,Tim Dalling will dive into the ecological zeitgeist and the world of climate chaos. The songs will veer wildly from zesty frivolity to poignant philosophy, celebrating exciting surviving species, mourning the lost ones, praising signs of hope and encouraging the audience to sing along with global gusto. It will put a smile on your face, a tear in your eye and a song in your heart.


Tickets for the whole evening £10 / 18s and under £3


Book Tickets

Sunday 2nd July Alnwick Playhouse Studio Hub 11.00 am Film: - BLUE

Our ocean has been the guardian of life on earth. Now it is our turn to be guardians for the ocean.

Industrial scale fishing, habitat destruction, species loss and pollution have placed the ocean in peril. BLUE is a provocative journey into the ocean realm, witnessing this critical moment in time when the marine world is on a precipice.


£5 / 18s and under £2


TICKETS ON SALE SOON








Sunday 2nd July Alnwick Playhouse Bill Hugonin Auditorium 1.30 DEEP DIVE INTO WATER

Water runs through every aspect of the climate and biodiversity crisis – too much, too little, in the wrong place or not of the right quality. But what can we do about it? Can beavers really manage upstream water retention better than we can? Can big businesses and local charities work together to improve water quality in our rivers? Can improving seagrass meadows and oyster beds protect against coastal erosion and store carbon? How can we grow water-intensive crops with less water? Are ‘nature-based solutions’ really better than high-tech ones? Can we help nature to help us?

Come to listen and talk to our panel of professionals from the Northumberland Rivers Trust, Northumbrian Water, Stronger Shores, a farmer and landowner and the National Trust, Wallington. There will be challenging questions, but also hopeful answers. And find out whether beavers are back in Northumberland!


Chair:Ross Lowrie, 

RIVERS  and SEAS

Peter Kerr, Northumberland Rivers Trust - cleaning our rivers, managing floods, supporting wildlife.

Mike Madine , Northumbrian Water. Cross-catchment working and knowledge sharing through the North East Catchment Hub and river pollution cleanup commitments..

Emily Ross,  Stronger Shores. - the potential for wetlands to reduce flooding and store carbon. 


Other speakers to be confirmed

INTERVAL Playhouse Bar 2.45 - 3.30 Taste of Northumbrian Seafood organised by Berwick Slow Food



Free fish and seafood snacks with your ticket

TO BE CONFIRMED


Deep Dive Continues 3.30 - 4.30

WATER and the LAND

Anthony and Lucy Carroll of Carroll's Heritage potatoes - a water needy crop .   How can a healthier soil help hold water and store carbon. Will every farm need small reservoir water storage?



WATER and the LAND


Kelly Hollings - National Trust  - reintroduction of beavers 


Further speakers to be confirmed


Full afternoon ticket £7/ 18s and under £2




Book Tickets

Sunday 2nd July Alnwick Garden 2.00 - 4.30 MUSIC STAGE

Young performers from local schools celebrate life through music joined by Werca’s Folk The Border Shetland Fiddlers, Alistair Anderson, Glendale Middle School Ceilidh Band and many more

Pictured: Duchess Community High School at the 2022 Festival


Free to visitors to the Garden - usual entrance fees apply




Pictured: a  couple of the Borders Shetland Fiddlers  at the 2022 Festival


Free to visitors to the Garden - usual entrance fees apply
















Art Exhibition LOVING EARTH June 13th - July 3rd Alnwick Playhouse Gallery


  

The Loving Earth Project originated by the Quaker Arts Network celebrates some of the wonderful things threatened by growing environmental breakdown. The 30 x 30 textile panels made for the Project illustrate some of the beloved places, people, creatures and other things at stake in the climate crisis. 50 of these panels will be on display at Alnwick Playhouse  together with some created by local people.









Alnwick Playhouse and around the town

  Youngsters from Gallery Youth in Alnwick have been using their creative talents to show their support for the What a Wonderful World Festival.  They have created a series of picture boards featuring spray art images that reflect their concerns about climate change and environmental awareness.   

Gallery Youth also took their artistic talents to the Alnwick Freeriders Bike Track where they have decorated the cabin. Pictured 



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