Lost laughter in the Breeze

Artists and theatre makers Jonathan Raisin and Elizabeth Willow, have met with ushers and cleaners, box office workers and backstage staff to uncover some extraordinary stories and memories.

Jonathan said: “There are stories of wartime fire watching in the ballroom, hypnotising crocodiles and getting a donkey onto the stage, a ghostly violinist playing in the gods, selling ice creams to the packed summer crowds in the circle, and sweeping up in the empty theatre after a sell-out show … to the story of the final performance and the woman who locked the doors for the last time in 1977…”

These stories will now become part of a show in this most extraordinary of buildings: a modern take on the traditional seaside spectacle using archive film, singing, sound effects and projection, and the voices and memories of all its unsung heroes.

Sea Breeze will also lead to an exhibition in Live at LICA’s Peter Scott Gallery at Lancaster University from October 2013, made up of found objects from the Winter Garden’s past collected during the making of the show. Tickets for this unique celebration of Morecambe’s faded treasure are on sale via www.liveatlica.org/seabreeze.