Music fills the Brunel Goods Shed

We are nearing the 30th anniversary of Stroud Preservation Trust, of which I am a trustee, and I was asked to try and get some pictures which might illustrate our most recently completed building, the Brunel Goods Shed, close by Stroud station. It has been our responsibility since 1987, when it became dangerously close to being pulled down.

I only became a trustee about six years ago, and this is the only building I have been involved with, particularly taking responsibility for getting the power supply delivered, a task that took more than three years! But it meant that with the other new works, which I've described in other blips, we could at last rent the building out. Our tenants are the Stroud Valleys Arts, who saw the potential in the vast open space in the Shed for performances and artistic events of many types. They have ow been using it for nearly a year and it has been a big success for the, which means that all our efforts seem vindicated.

All I knew was that a touring group of musicians were doing a single performance tonight of The Raun Tree, the creation of Dom Coyote, so off I went with my camera and to take some pictures. I met up with Jo and Neil, who are key members of SVA, and they seemed very happy with the numbers of the audience, probably nearing two hundred people.

The four musicians were very good, but I didn't listen too closely, as I concentrated on trying to get some pictures. We wanted some of people using the building, particularly at night time, which we can add to the photographic exhibition documenting the initiation of the Trust in 1983 and the subsequent successful restorations. The lighting in the building is is very rudimentary at present and they didn't seem to have brought in many extra ones. I found it quite a task in a large space, as I'm not used to filming in very low light conditions, and only had my regular lenses. But I enjoyed myself and did stay to the end, as did nearly all the audience.

This picture seemed to show some of the set design of ladders, which were climbed at various times, in front of the old Cotswold stone wall. About four feet below the musicians is the original railway track on which the goods wagons came into the shed to be loaded with Stroud's industrial output as well as people's domestic affairs. If you look at a large view, the bass player seems to be looking straight at me. I rather like his shadow on the wall.

Apparently:
Dom Coyote is a musician and theatre maker, with specific interest in stories and song. He performs and composes for companies such as Kneehigh, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Art Angel, West Yorkshire Play House and Battersea Arts Centre, Dom is also a lead artist on two major projects - Folk in a Box, a One on One musical experience, which is set to feature at Venice Biennale 2012, and The Raun Tree, an apocalyptic fairytale told through ten songs, which begins its UK tour this year.

The Raun Tree is Dom's first major theatre show, combining dark alt/folk and electronica with surreal storytelling and an inspired design by Michael Vale (Kneehigh, SouthBank Centre). Dom is joined on stage by Award winning songwriter Emily Barker and Mercury Prize Winner Speech Debelle's rhythm section, Nat Butler and Adrian Acolatse.