From the highway the King's Place venue is nothing of note however inside it has a distinct barbican-esq feel to it, spacious and multi-levelled it shouts art with quite a lot of unassuming doors leading off to different numbered halls. It describes itself as a cultural hub and it would seem to live up to that description.
In the back of the complex is the idyllic Regent's Canal Battlebridge Basin featuring a number of long boat barges in addition to the London Canal Museum. The modern residential housing opposite struts its stuff, instilling no doubt a little envy to onlookers that something so quaint might be positioned only a stone's throw from London's St Pancras.
I had shuffled along to the Not so Silent Movies' second outing which is an afternoon event, held each first Sunday of the month in one of the King's Place smaller downstairs halls.
Whatever my experiences were on the day I went, it's probable that they were completely different from those that had attended the inaugural occasion the month before, and completely different once more to those who shall be attending future occasions, as conceptually this is an event that's made up on the spot; as the promotional material boasts, 'music on the edge'.
With a backdrop projecting early cinema black and white silent films, a group of gifted musicians lay their reputations on the line and entertain the afternoon crowd.
On this occasion there were four silent motion pictures on offer, two starring Buster Keaton, and then one each from Harold Lloyd and Charles Chaplin. You might always expect to have to forgive silent films for having been the pioneers of a revolutionary new medium, but the acting, storytelling and sheer comic intricacy may in ninety years have been equalled, but not often has it been bettered.
The smorgasbord of musical instruments on show comprised of violin, reeds, guitar, horn, cello and a carpenter's saw, with a Dame, Evelyn Glennie, at the centre of all of it together with her assortment of car boot sale percussion 'devices'.
With no planning, no rehearsal, no prior knowledge of the films and having never before performed together as a group, this could be a recipe for disaster.
So does it all work? There were at instances when the music distracted me from the film, and other occasions when the film distracted me from the music, and times when the two came together perfectly. It could be unfair and pointless to attempt to attach any sort of label to the music, though 'The Straight Story' sometimes came to mind. This isn't serious music but enjoyable music performed by serious musicians, if anyone did mess up, it went unnoticed, and if it hadn't, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
It is always a privilege to witness skilled musicians 'jamming', and for them it appeared to be a labour of love and what wasn't there to like? An ideal London venue, a selection of classic early cinema, a bunch of gifted musicians, all on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
Author Resource:-
Not so Silent Movies is a series of events held on the first Sunday of the month in London's King's Place venue so if you have a passion for Silent Movie Music come along and enjoy a unique experience.