Holloway Arts Festival: Ibsen’s Ghosts and live music come together

The Holloway Arts Festival continued, June 5^th, for an amazing evening in North London. Out of London rain and into the Old Fire Station, you could find yourself immersed in a friendly and lively atmosphere where live music, theatre and art merged for a full three-hour entertainment.

The Room: Louisiana was the event presented tonight by Sinister Shadow, which delivered a range of performances inspired by the American Deep South, as well as a production of Ibsen’s famous play Ghosts, set in New Orleans in 1933.

The evening kicked off with the play – well known for depicting the contemptuous morality typical of 19^th century – adapted to the old America’s scenery and sensationally rendered by the five members of the theatre company.

A fresh and barefoot Bianca B. Daryl, with her country, heartfelt performance, followed the first short break. Her great, vaguely raspy voice reverberated with a wonderful effect in the small room of the Old Fire Station, simply arranged to host a stage right off the audience’s chairs and candle-lit tables.

Between Act Two and Three of Ghosts, freelance artist Zoe Smith introduced her paintings from the series Welcome to the Circus – exposed at the back of the room – inspired by real circus artists and their life at work.

At the end of Act Three, after the actors left the stage amidst a cheering crowd of an intimate twenty people or so, the evening reached its climax with the outstanding performance of young British talent Denai Moore, winner of Rising Star 2009 at the British Music Awards and Live & Unsigned finalist the same year. Moore, standing on stage with her acoustic guitar, played six original songs as well as a beautiful cover of Wicked Game.

Overall it was a pleasant evening, with a nice mix of live music and an exciting peek into old Americana – a perfect, cheap night-out to keep you entertained for hours on a fiver, or even half price (see conditions on website, link below.)

For more information on this and the other events planned until the 10^th of June, visit the Holloway Arts Festival website.

Francesca Cacciarru