The Crick Crack Club’s wild haven of myth, epic and fairytale for grown-ups returns to Kings Place this autumn. In this contemporary performance of Finnish epic – the Kalevala – internationally acclaimed storyteller Nick Hennessey fuses story, music and song to create an extraordinary, immersive mythic soundscape.

A cow stands in a fire holding sun and moon between her horns.
A pine martin gathers spit from the mouth of a bear to brew beer.
An egg falls from a nest just balanced on the sky-girl’s knee.
And from its broken shards, nothing becomes something…

Storyteller, musician and singer, Nick Hennessey forges a world into being. Here in the Finnish far north the light is a just little too bright and the dark a little too blinding, the rivers flow fast and deep, and it’s all too easy to get lost in the forest. Held within a wild enchanted soundscape of story, song, percussion, mbira, and harp – this remarkable performance of elemental epic lures us into the untamed, playful, and surreal territories of the Finnish creation myth – the Kalevala.

The performance will last approximately 60 minutes, without an interval.

Suitable for adults (14+)

About Nick Hennessey:

Nick Hennessey is man with a harp. What’s not to like? Nick is widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading contemporary storytellers.  He is the only international entrant to win the Runolaulu singing competition in Espoo, performing the Kalevala to the Finns, in English, and was commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to create a one-hour documentary about Kalevala in 2010.  In this new show, he blends sounds, song and story with harp, mbira and percussion to create an extraordinary, immersive mythic soundscape.

Nick has performed at London’s Southbank Centre, the Royal Albert Hall, Kings Place and the Soho Theatre, and extensively at folk, storytelling, and literature festivals throughout the UK and internationally (Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Canada and two national tours of Japan).

Reviews

‘captivating, powerful, perfect’ Oxford Culture Review

‘Compelling’ The Times

‘spell-binding’ Southbank Centre, London

‘a rare combination of artistic adventure and absolute accessibility…magical’ London Literature Festival