HOLY WEEK FESTIVAL 2014 God & Dinosaurs 2 Phantom of the Opera Fauré’s Requiem Josh Flowers & the Wild Art Exhibition BBC Wiltshire Service Labyrinth & Café Riding Lights Theatre Tristan Cork Late Night Plainsong Easter Day Egg Hunt 7th –20th April
MALMESBURY ABBEY
vicar’s blog//outsider For the last two summers, Malmesbury has hosted one of the nation’s least glamorous sporting events: the Vicar’s XI and the Whole Hog XI playing forty overs of what, at times, resembled cricket. We lost, just, twice. I’m used to the inside of an abbey, a concert hall, an Indian restaurant, a pub, a gym, a pool—but the world of the cricket pavilion, the equipment, and the threatening speed of a very hard ball coming towards me, all subliminally reminded me that I was an outsider. Then I scored a few runs and took a catch and couldn’t walk the next day and felt a bit more like an insider. For many, stepping though the doors of a very large 12th century abbey is a little unnerving, and sitting in a chair for a church service can be an even more unfathomable event. So, we’ve put together a Holy Week Festival which, yes, has prayer and Easter Day services. I’d be sacked if it didn’t. But it also has science and exploration, art and drama, and the Phantom of the Opera, folk and blues alongside the finest classical music and some ancient monastic plainsong. Dinosaurs might not be your thing, but Johann Sebastian Bach or an Easter Egg Hunt might be. I’ve been really glad to get to know the guys from cricket, they made me and ten others very welcome—and next year we will win. And, similarly, I hope we will have the opportunity of welcoming you to Malmesbury Abbey during the events of April. If you are a complete beginner I would say don’t miss Josh Flowers, the Art Exhibition, the Phantom and the dinosaur man. And if you can possibly make Fauré’s Requiem put it in your diary. The monks built the Abbey with an ethos of hospitality. It continues 1300 years later. You’re welcome. Revd Neill Archer
neill@malmesburyabbey.com
Front Cover: Station I Adam Miriam Inside Cover: Station XI Lucy Morris
01666 826666//www.malmesburyabbey.com
7th-12th April
The Labyrinth In the Middle Ages travel was difficult and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to retrace the footsteps of Christ, was prohibitively expensive and unsafe for ordinary men and women. So labyrinths emerged, circular mazes, that allowed pilgrims to make a symbolic spiritual journey on the stone floor of a cathedral or abbey instead. In the 21st century travel is relatively easy, but stillness, silence and reflection are harder to find in a relentless world. So for one week, 7th-12th April, the Abbey chairs are huddled in a corner and the Abbey becomes an oasis, your oasis. You’ll discover a sofa to enjoy a Fairtrade coffee or hot chocolate from the cafÊ, the space to wander though the art exhibition (see over), and a guided journey around the labyrinth, where you can just do your own thing or follow an Easter meditation prepared for both adults and young people. New this year is the Late Night Labyrinth, on Wednesday 9th from 5pm-10pm. The Labyrinth, lit by candlelight as the evening darkens, culminating with Night Prayer with plainsong at 10pm. Admission Free.
HIGHLIGHT: LATE NIGHT LABYRINTH, APRIL 9TH
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4 Saturday 12th April
Station IV Bethany Kemp
Stations//Meet the Artists Whether it’s a Christmas Carol Service, a production of Joseph & his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, a Chamber Music Concert, a Fairtrade Exhibition, a WOMAD collaboration, or a prize and presentation evening, Malmesbury Abbey frequently hosts the very, very impressive young people of Malmesbury School. And each year an outstanding highlight of the Abbey Holy Week Festival is the imaginative and challenging art, sculpture and photography of A-level Art students as they create, as part of their course work, a work inspired by a Station of the Cross—one of the biblical texts narrating the last journey of Jesus Christ to the cross. From the afternoon of Monday 7th April, the Stations of the Cross exhibition will be installed in the south aisle of the Abbey for a few weeks. At 10am on Saturday 12th April, join the artists for an hour as they are interviewed and share some of the story behind their work. Admission Free.
HIGHLIGHT: MEET THE ARTISTS AT 10AM
Saturday 12th April 5
Josh Flowers & the Wild After blowing us away at the Abbey last year with their infusion of searing blues vocals, organic folk musicality, raw rock and roll sensibilities, and a whole heap of joy, Josh Flowers and the Wild are back. The Londonbased five-piece are fronted by esoteric frontman Josh Flowers, whose evocative lyrics and bucolic image organically compliment the rustic quality of the band’s inimitable ingenuity and sound. Expect to be gripped by a high energy performance; expect sumptuous vocal harmonies, permeated by Josh’s transition from passive, opulent folk-inspired tones to a bluesridden, blistering growl; and expect a flawlessly in-tune performance, both aurally and visually, that feels as fluently natural as it does scrupulously rehearsed. Discover more at www.joshflowersandthewild.co.uk This year Josh & the Wild are supported by the Wiltshire giant, scrumpy & western wurzel rapper Tristan Cork. Café & Bar. Tickets £3.
HIGHLIGHT: JOSH FLOWERS//TRISTAN CORK AT 7.30PM
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Monday 14th April
The Phantom of the Opera Now this is going to be very different. The sun will be setting outside Malmesbury Abbey and a few discreet candles will be lit. You might well have a glass of wine from the café to steady your nerves. And then in a darkened Abbey we will watch the 1925 epic silent movie, The Phantom of the Opera, Lon Chaney & Mary Philbin projected onto the vast east wall. But the music won’t be pre-recorded; it will be live and improvised as international organist Anthony Hammond, who has given recitals in San Francisco, Washington and Boston, USA, interprets the screen images, live, on the Abbey organ. So when the Phantom plays the organ on the big screen, Anthony Hammond brings it to life in the Abbey. Admission £3.
Glory!
Join us on Tuesday 15th April at 7.30pm for an evening of passionate, contemporary worship and prayer in the Abbey. Not quite how the monks would have done it, but with the same commitment to God and his world.
Wednesday 16th April
God & Dinosaurs 2 In 2012 Dr Mike Taylor sat in the Abbey and talked about the two dinosaurs he had recently discovered and named: Xenoposeidon (alien earthquake god) and Brontomerus (thunder thighs). If you were there, you won’t have forgotten a brilliant evening too quickly. Well, the dinosaur man is back, to answer our questions and to mess with a few heads as he holds evolution, dinosaurs, God and the Bible effortlessly together. As well as his scholarly publications, Mike has written about palaeontology in the Guardian, the Telegraph and Christianity magazine, and much more extensively on the nerd-blog Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week (svpow.com). We will revisit the God & Dinosaurs question, and we’ll also get a chance to hear about his latest research, based at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol, on Sauropods and their very impressive necks –see above. The café and bar are open; come early to get a seat and submit a question. Admission Free.
HIGHLIGHT: THE 3m NECK OF THE ARAMBOURGIANA
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Maundy Thursday
Riding Lights//Inheritance Riding Lights Theatre Company is one of the UK’s most productive and long-established independent theatre companies. Founded in York over 30 years ago, partly through the initiative of a city-centre church, the company continues to take innovative, accessible theatre into all kinds of communities far and wide. World premieres in recent years have included African Snow, a co-production with York Theatre Royal, marking the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (York Theatre Royal, West End transfer and national tour), Augustus Carp Esq. By Himself (Friargate Theatre), Dick Turpin (Friargate Theatre) and Artistic Director Paul Burbridge’s adaptation of Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat (a national tour coproduced with the Northcott Theatre, Exeter). For the summer of 2012 Riding Lights, along with York Theatre Royal and York Museums Trust, produced the epic-scale production of the York Mystery Plays 2012. Introducing Inheritance: On a dusty road leading to Jerusalem, a woman stumbles towards her judgement. Just weeks later, Jesus will take the same road, leading to the cross… In Capernaum, the town they both call home, they are rejected. In the temple where they worship, they are condemned. The synagogue leader plots to destroy them both. Inheritance weaves the strands of the biblical Passion into a dramatic new narrative. It evokes the community where Jesus lived, the people who knew him best, the powers that brought him to execution. And in the shadow of the cross, it casts light on some of the women who Jesus stands alongside, sharing in their suffering. Echoing through time, it renews our expectations of the kingdom of heaven and who might share its inheritance.
TICKETS: £10 ADULTS, £5 STUDENTS/UNDER 18
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Good Friday
Good Friday Oddly, Good Friday is a difficult day, despite its name. Two billion Christians around the world will devotionally re-enact the journey of Jesus Christ, from his trial before Pontius Pilate to his crucifixion and death, and then his burial in a garden tomb. It’s difficult to look at, but the Abbey was built to proclaim that the hope of humanity flows from this single moment in history. So, it is ‘good.’ Good Friday begins quietly with Morning Prayer at 9am before people of all ages and backgrounds gather for our Service of the Cross at 10.30am. This culminates with an outdoor service in Birdcage Walk at 12 noon, joining with churches from across the town. Later in the day please arrive early at the Abbey for our 6pm Devotional Concert. This year the beauty of Fauré’s ‘Requiem’ and J.S. Bach’s motet ‘Come, Saviour, Come’ are interspersed with readings from St Matthew. Admission is free. At 7.30pm, the Service of the Tomb, a simple service of Night Prayer, brings our day to a close.
HIGHLIGHT: FAURÉ’S REQUIEM AT 6PM
Easter Day 11
Station IV Eloise Pontefract
Easter Day There are six Easter services at the Abbey and, as is the case in many Cathedrals, Easter begins with a service on Easter Eve, at 7pm. The Abbey is again delighted to be working in partnership with BBC WILTSHIRE to record Easter from Malmesbury Abbey, for broadcast on Easter Day and Easter Monday across the county. Tickets (ÂŁ3) are now available for this event, with all proceeds going to the May Moore Trust, a charity working with the elderly and isolated in our community. On Easter Day there are two early morning services at 6am and 8am, and then the Bishop of Swindon, the Rt Revd Dr Lee Rayfield joins us to preach at our 10.30am Holy Communion. At 4pm join us for a praisefilled contemporary service with Easter Egg Hunt; and then at 6.30pm Choral Evensong brings our day of celebration to a close with music by J.S. Bach and John Ireland and the ancient 17th century words of the Book of Common Prayer.
HIGHLIGHT: BBC WILTSHIRE ON EASTER EVE
April 7th-12th Labyrinth, Art Exhibition & Café open. 9am Morning Prayer, each day Wednesday 9th April 5pm-10pm Late Night Labyrinth by candlelight with café 10pm Night Prayer with Plainsong
Palm Sunday 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Outdoor Communion 4pm Café Service & Junior Church 6.30pm Prayer for North Korea Monday 14th April 9am Morning Prayer & Communion 7.30pm The Phantom of the Opera (1925) with Anthony Hammond 10pm Night Prayer with Plainsong Tuesday 15th April 9am Morning Prayer & Communion 7.30pm Glory! Praise and prayer 10pm Night Prayer with Plainsong
Maundy Thursday 9am Morning Prayer & Communion 7.30pm Riding Lights Inheritance Good Friday 9am Morning Prayer 10.30am Service of the Cross (for all ages) 12 noon March of Witness (Churches Together) 6pm Devotional Concert: Fauré’s Requiem & J.S. Bach Come, Saviour, Come 7.30pm Service of the Tomb (Night Prayer) Easter Eve 7pm BBC Wiltshire Easter Service Easter Day 6am Dawn Service 8am BCP Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 4pm Family Easter Celebration & Easter Egg Hunt 6.30pm Easter Choral Evensong
2014 HOLY WEEK FESTIVAL DIARY
Saturday 12th April 10am Meet the Artists 7.30pm Josh Flowers & the Wild supported by Tristan Cork
Wednesday 16th April 9am Morning Prayer & Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 7.30pm God & Dinosaurs 2 10pm Fauré Requiem