Beulah

Beulah is a folk musical inspired by the writings and the thinkings of romantic poet, William Blake. Half in this world and half in the next, Beulah is a show wound from storytelling, puppetry and soaring live music.

First created in 2012 with York Theatre Royal, Beulah took the Edinburgh fringe by storm, with a sell out run, critical acclaim and award nominations. Since then it has toured nationally – from pubs, to railway arches, to village halls and west end theatres – run in London and returned to the Edinburgh Fringe. It is set for a New York development and transfer in 2015. Described by Blake as a world ‘of mild and pleasant rest’, Beulah is where we go when we dream, a place where the bits of our world have slipped through. The show looks at the rules of our world – what we know, what we dream of and the fabric that our reality is made from. We are born of stories, memories, love songs and leap years.

Told by two performers, the show is made up storytelling, music and puppetry. Kings and Queen appear from crowns and cloths, an old man from a hat and a stick, a boy from a crumpled pair of pyjamas. Liam and Lyca, two lovers, are heard and never seen. A lion comes and goes. The whole show is scored on an impressive array of instruments, with the two performers swapping between guitars, harps, harmoniums, mandolins, bazoukis, kalimbas, cajons, whistles and glockenspiels, all wound with soaring harmonies.