Monty Python-inspired musicians The New Rope String Band perform in Worthing’s Richmond Room on October 18th at 8.00pm, bringing their combination of acoustic music, circus, slapstick and humour to the intimate space. Taking inspiration from a variety of world music traditions, the three-piece band incorporate elements of clowning and vaudeville into their gigs and have performed for audiences in venues as varied as Borneo’s Sarawak rainforest and the Shetland Folk Festival.
The trio blend their most popular routines with ever-changing new material, tackling musical tennis, deconstructed nursery rhymes and interactive songs. Having formed as The Old Rope String Band in 1988 after discovering their skits between ceilidh-band sets were proving as popular as their music, the band has gradually evolved into today’s line-up as The New Rope String Band.
The band’s original co-founder Pete Challoner has remained in his role as fiddle and banjo player, joined by accordionist Tim Dalling whose background in Cornwall’s alterative theatre scene brought additional theatricality to the performances, alongside the addition of vocals and fiddle from Jock Tyldesley, who had previously performed with the Flatville Aces and The Chipolatas.
The band invited directorial input from Kneehigh’s John Lee, Peepolykus Theatre’s John Nicholson, The Chipolatas’ Sam Thomas and stand-up comic Keith Donnelly to hone their characterisation and stagecraft, while keeping the music at the core of their shows.
Each performance is colourfully woven with Celtic, bluegrass, Cajun, boogie-woogie, Dixieland, Scandinavian and classical material, with instruments being used as tennis racquets to bat a musical note around the stage or pieces of plastic tubing becoming the source of solemn Scottish pipe marches.
With no prop too obscure and no activity considered too silly for the stage, audiences can expect anything from contortionism and seagull impressions to barbershop harmonies, mime and Morris dancing during the band’s evening of laughter and musical hilarity.
The New Rope String Band perform at the Richmond Room, Stoke Abbott Road, Worthing BN11 1HQ on Friday October 18th at 8pm. Tickets, priced at £8, concessions £2 off, can be purchased from Worthing Theatres Box Office on 01903 206206 or online at www.worthingtheatres.co.uk