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COVENTRY Criterion Theatre: Fat Chance Show
March 31, 2023 @ 7:00 pm
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A special performance of our Fat Chance Show will headline the evening with an hour of the longer show.
This is a one-off special! We tour it properly in the autumn.
A live songs-and-film show for grown-ups
An innovative music and moving imagery show – in collaboration with highly acclaimed artist Nicky Cure, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter annA rydeR sings her own original songs with the exciting extra dimension of equally distinctive and intriguing moving pictures.
These immersive, entertaining and atmospheric films were made together over the last two years combining Nicky’s art, real-life images and Etch-A-Sketch with annA’s hand-drawn cartoons and stop-motion and some live action chucked in.
FAT CHANCE SHOW is
Surrealistic, absurdist dancing frogs, like Patti Smith fronting the Bonzo Dogs.
Vulnerable. Honest. Bees in their bonnets. Sly, tragic, funny, raw.
Satire, but without the whining bores.
Funny. Human. Glorious. Original. Arty but not farty.
Hi- detail. Hi-on life. Hi-concept, anarchic aunties.
Inspirational, incredible, accessible, available, relatable, naughty-table.
Subtle, subversive, Kafka with a custard pie.
A testament to the unshakable power of female friendship in adversity.
Wom-com. Poetic, pathetic, prophetic, totally batshit crazy.
GO AND SEE THIS SHOW, IT’S AMAZING.
Musical dynamo singer-songwriter annA rydeR’s exuberant humour and joyful presentation is matched only by her outstanding musicianship. The stage is adorned with a spectrum of instruments from piano to trumpet, guitar to accordion and she sometimes plays them more than one at a time.
An evening with annA is always rich and uplifting so adding the moving images she has created in collaboration with artist Nicky Cure makes for a truly unique, multi-sensual experience.
Quite simply, unforgettable.
AUDIENCE QUOTES FOR THIS SHOW include:
“Such a brilliant show, so immersive, emotive but quirky, the films were absolutely awesome and made it so different to anything I’ve seen before.
They really pull you in. There’s so much captured in the moving images and it is honest, and deeply moving, but still light-hearted, silly and fun.
In all my years and travels, I’ve never seen anything quite like it!
I haven’t stopped talking about it!”
[Hali Keenan – in the audience at a gig in Warwick – the quote was on Facebook]
“Intriguing” “Poignant” “Zany” “Uplifting” “Extraordinary” (The Gather Cumbria, The Musician Leicester)
“I’ve just seen something peculiar” (Northumberland)
Nicky & annA have been working together for over 12 years making films, music and just experimenting. They are Radar-Birds and you can find their work and films, which include the popular Across Warwick By Pogo-Stick and the much-watched Being Mark Rylance here: www.radarbirds.com
annA rydeR
AUDIENCE QUOTE : “Where have you been all our lives! We enjoyed the show so much! Your songs are so original, personal, yet for everyone.”
“A multi-talented ball of energy” Julianne Regan [ALL ABOUT EVE]
“Anna Ryder is not only the most talented musician I know but also one of the most entertaining. I can’t think of anyone better suited to touring and her new show is original, quirky and simply fantastic!”
Chris Short [The Churchfitters]
annA rydeR is a musical dynamo; an original and inventive singer-songwriter with a musical style that, based in folk, spans an array of genres. Her songs are simultaneously thought-provoking, poignant and humorous.
She is a multi-instrumentalist playing, amongst others, piano, guitars, accordion, banjo, trumpet and is a performer who according to the audience ‘paints great songs’ and who say ‘puts the soul of the people into her music’.
annA is a musician’s musician who has played with and for many different artists including Fairport Convention, Eddi Reader and Julianne Regan (All about Eve). She currently plays as a member of IOTA (Sally Barker & Marion Fleetwood) and The Sandy Denny Project (Sally, Marion, PJ Wright, Mat Davies & Mark Stevens) as well as guesting with Ric Sanders & Vo Fletcher.
MORE:
‘Bring Me Back My Feathers’, included in the Fairport Convention set for several years, is annA’s song. They have also performed and recorded her songs ‘Sailing Boat’ and ‘The Crowd’.
In 2019 annA performed at Cropredy Convention as part of the unique 11-piece ‘Fairport Extension’ for which she arranged the brass parts and played keyboard, accordion, trumpet and French horn.
annA has made several albums, including Paper Girl, Pockets On Fire and The Art Of Making Faces, of original ‘songs that demonstrate a rare originality’ (MOJO) which often feature such musicians as Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway, Rabbit Bundrick (The Who keyboards), Simon Nicol and Clive Bunker.
A cartoonist as well, annA was specially commissioned to make the sleeve cover cartoons on Fairport’s album ‘What We Did On Our Saturday’.
2017 saw annA get together with talented singers and musicians Sally Barker and Marion Fleetwood to create IOTA. This trio combine to make original songs which are poignant, quirky, thought-provoking and humorous with sublime harmonies and top class musicianship – described by Julie Matthews as “Three brilliant musicians, singers and writers exuding an infectious joy of music. A force to be reckoned with.”
Sally and annA got together as a duo and released their album of original material ‘When I Wake Up’ in the autumn of 2019.
With touring dates for annA solo, with Sally, IOTA, and The Sandy Denny Project, she is quite a busy musician appearing in venues all over the UK and beyond.
2020/21
annA’s been writing songs, recording and making films for her songs.
AND
From the end of 2020 and into 2021 annA has been broadcasting live on Facebook doing her daily show ‘Elevenses’.
Nicky Cure
QUOTE: “Nicky’s work is like opening a box of something new and exciting. The ideas are immediately accessible yet they are extraordinarily intriguing. She produces the most amazing visual imagery which is simultaneously pleasing and provocative.” Member of public at art exhibition.
Nicky is a process led multimedia artist. She calls herself a process hacker, and is happiest playfully trampling across disciplines with only a passing glance at the instructions, preferring to discover rather than plan.
The work that results from her meanderings is full of intrigue and curiosity.
In her own words, ‘I mostly do stuff just to see what happens, and then I think about how I can use it.’
Nicky is an explorer on a constant journey of discovery traveling through, in, and between a multitude of disciplines. The means by which she makes her art is generated by her magpie-esque propensity to intuitively collect and gather stuff.
To Nicky the conventional is like a cul-de-sac so her process creates an obstacle course, bending and twisting its way out to an unforeseen but interesting destination, which itself is yet another signpost to somewhere else.
Nicky has worked with a variety of artists including David Kefford, Andrew Crosse and Ray Spence and is currently working on a project with Funki Porcini (James Braddell).
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Nicky studied Fine Art at Birmingham University, she has worked as Artist Educator in Educational settings and was a Teacher of Art in UK Schools for 10 years. She is now a freelance Artist based in Warwickshire, UK.
MORE INFO ANNA RYDER
MORE DETAIL:
annA has played all over the UK and Europe, from small clubs to large festivals and venues, including Cropredy Convention, and has recorded six albums, featuring some of British folk’s finest musicians including members of Fairport Convention. (with whom she has had a long-term musical relationship having written songs for them and performed with them on and off since 1999).
Artists annA has performedand/or worked with:
Eddi Reader (Fairground Attraction)
Julianne Regan (All About Eve)
Jacqui McShee (Pentangle)
Fairport Convention
Rabbit Bundrick (Keyboards The Who)
Alan Thomson (John Martyn Band, Martin Barre Band)
Clive Bunker (ex-Jethro Tull)
Tom Leary (Joe Brown, Feast of Fiddles & ex-Lindisfarne)
Spencer Cozens (keyboardist Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle & John Martyn Band)
Martin Brunsden (Hothouse Flowers)
Steve Tilston
Bob Fox
Nigel Stonier
Website: www.annaryder.co.uk
YouTube: annA rydeR
Facebook: annA rydeR and Anna Ryder
Inst: annarydermusic
BANDSINTOWN – Anna Ryder – for ticket links and all gigs
MORE INFO NICKY CURE
Website: www.nickycure.co.uk
YouTube: Nicky Cure
Facebook: Nicky Cure
Inst: nicky.cure