Streaming Seamen

Opening with a vibrant lively introduction of each individual by their first names, Streaming Seamen commences with the fabulous traditional song ‘What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor’.  Presented with such energy and irony – it’s enough to bring tears of delight to one’s eyes!  A product of lockdowns, it is just miraculous what can be achieved by ten awesome singers, with harmonizing voices, cleverly honed together from isolation.

This is a lovely short and very sweet show of Sea Shanties not to be missed.  It’s the sort of digital download you will probably want to watch again and again.  Apparently on Tick Tok since early 2021 Sea Shanties have become the number one viral sensation.  Somehow I find this unsurprising as our language is so heavily peppered with historically germane nautical metaphors.

Ten excellent youthful, individual, expressive  and stunning singers belt out several Sea Shanties from seafaring nations such as Canada,  Australia and the UK including a Viking song – ‘Each Must Die Some Day’.  But it is interesting to note that every country has its Sea Shanties.

Most songs incorporate all singers but there is a solo -  ‘Oak and Ash and Thorn’ is sung hauntingly in a hazy smoky theatre space.  A very raunchy take on ‘Blow Your Winds Southerly’ – ‘Blow Your Winds Westerly’ is presented as a duet.

Let’s hope this is only the beginning for Streaming Seamen.

Suzanne Sandow

Photographer: Jodie Hutchinson

Credits

Singers: Alex Callahan, Alex McGilvray, Alex Morris, Elisha Maiyah, Jill Chrisp, Joseph Clifford, Karen Taranto, Kavi Javed and Tim Maguire

Directed by Alex Morris

Arrangements by Alex Morris

Origional Music by will Hannagan

Produced by CJ Stewart Productions

Video Editing – Shelley O’Meara

Audio Editing – Tom Higham (Tank Audio)