Woodstock and Revolution in Lewes double theatre offering

The Spirit of Woodstock and Children of the Revolution are the open-air double bill at The Paddock Field, Lewes on June 17. They are offered by Jonathan Brown of Something Underground theatre company.

As Jonathan says: “How is it possible to attend, right here in Lewes, the world's largest free festival, with over 500,000 people all squeezed together on a dairy farm in northern New York State? To witness the shooting of Bobby Kennedy; watch the launch of Apollo 11; be part of an anti-Vietnam war riot in Chicago; be a chopper pilot ferrying the world's most famous musicians upstate; meet the captain of a Russian nuclear submarine submerged off the coast of Cuba; to be a musician about to step out onto the stage at Woodstock? And how in this time of soaring oil costs, tight global tensions, women's reproductive rights under pressure, Northern Ireland back in the headlines, talent shows, the EEC in the balance, the environment battling to survive, new diseases afoot and renewed nuclear threats, can a second show, about the 70s, that deftly delves into the decade that most echoes our own times, actually be a way to see our current world through a lens that is both hilarious and chilling by turns?

“Witnessing fans mourn the break-up of the Beatles, Apollo 13 astronauts fight for their lives, Ian Paisley call for ‘No Surrender’, Greenpeace being founded, decimalisation, the first New York Gay Pride Parade, the Munich Olympic village hostages... how can you experience all this and yet stay sane in this crazy day and age? It’s simple. Multi-award-winning Lewes-based theatre company Something Underground are bringing both their open-air stage shows (The Spirit of Woodstock & Children of the Revolution) to the lovely Paddock Field in Lewes this June. The music, the protests, the moon landings, the civil rights movement, the adverts, the Anti-war protesters, the women’s liberators, the music, the musicians and the personalities….”

In The Spirit of Woodstock, performer/writer Jonathan plays 65 of these 60s characters in quick succession. In the 70s sequel, Children of the Revolution, on the same day, new decade, he does it all again. The venue is The Paddock Field, Lewes on June 17 at 3pm for Woodstock and 7pm Children of the Revolution; www.tickettailor.com/events/somethingundergroundtheatre/