Max Porter among more names revealed for Cork's Sounds from a Safe Harbour

Tue, 25 Jul, 2023 - 16:15

Mike McGrath Bryan

The Sounds from a Safe Harbour (SFSH) festival has announced some of its non-music programming, drawing from the worlds of theatre and literature.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers author Max Porter is set to host Shy, an evening of storytelling featuring mystery musical guests, at the recently-reopened Pavilion venue on Carey's Lane, on Friday, September 8. The British author had previously collaborated with SFSH co-curator Cillian Murphy on a stage version of his celebrated novel, and Grief is the Thing with Feathers also looks set for a film adaptation starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Elsewhere on the billing, more storytelling is set for the Pavilion on Saturday, September 9, as author Megan Barker hosts KIT, a live show drawing from her book of the same title.

Accompanied by musical guests, the performance gives a new dimension to work that the Guardian has referred to as a debut that 'fuses prose and poetry as a narrator struggles with a troubled friend and her own life of lost freedoms'.

Meanwhile, in theatre, director and choreographer Luke Murphy's new show Volcano plays at UCC's Granary Theatre on Friday, September 8, and Saturday, September 9. A sci-fi dance piece for the Netflix generation, the story is split into four 45-minute 'episodes', presented separately, allowing audiences to dip in and out, or binge on the whole series over the course of its run.

Michael Keegan-Dolan's acclaimed show, How to Be a Dancer in Seventy-two Thousand Easy Lessons, had already been announced for the Everyman on September 9-10.

These shows join previously announced musical headliners at the Cork Opera House. Canadian singer and songwriter Feist performs her Multitudes show, returning after a 2018 appearance (Thursday, September 7); folk trio The Bonny Light Orchestra will be joined by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and conductor Robert Ames on arrangements written by The National's Bryce Dessner (Friday, September 8); and Chicago indie veterans Wilco grace the Opera House (Saturday, September 9).

Folk duo Ye Vagabonds close the festival on Sunday, September 10 at the Opera House, with Lighthouse Constellations, a special show responding to the festival's residency programme.