Nights of Grief and Mystery – Stephen Jenkinson, Gregory Hoskins and full band from Canada @Theatr Gwaun, Fishguard
Friday 14th June 7-9.30 pm
Tickets £18 in advance, £20 on the door
View Trailer at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVGzjUELiYg&feature=youtu.be
Link to buy tickets on Eventbrite can be found at www.holyhiatus.co.uk
Stephen Jenkinson returns to West Wales for the fifth time in June 2019.
Ruth Jones, director of local community organisation Holy Hiatus says “I invited Stephen to Pembrokeshire back in 2013 because I was totally bowled over by the film Griefwalker, since then he has led teaching events and given performances here, and has even established a UK branch of his school Orphan Wisdom which convenes again this year at Llanrhian Hall in May. He is the most extraordinary orator, I have never heard anyone speak the way he does, it’s mesmerising, and life-changing”
“Stephen is on tour in the UK with singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins and full band performing Nights of Grief and Mystery. All the other gigs take place in major cities including London, Edinburgh, Brighton, Bristol. We are so lucky to be hosting this event in Fishguard with its population of 5000. Normally we have to travel to experience events of this international status, and here it is on our doorstep”
What is Nights of Grief and Mystery?
Nights of Grief and Mystery weaves together in a most wondrous way, the extraordinary talents and skills of internationally renowned author, teacher, storyteller, and cultural activist Stephen Jenkinson with those of Toronto-based singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins and his band. This an evening for young folk and old folk, for elders in training—an event of interest to parents and grandparents, teachers, scholars, health care professionals, clergy, counsellors, and anyone else pondering matters around human development, rites of passage, ageing, wisdom.
Stephen describes these events like this: “Concerts for Turbulent Times they surely are. We might not be considered poets, but the evenings are poetic. They are musical and grave and raucous and stilling, which probably means they are theatrical. They are nights devoted to the ragged mysteries of being human, and so grief and endings of all kinds appear. Sonorous hours and rapture, served by whatever talents of tongue and timbre have been granted the band, by the reckless labours of friends and accomplices who fashion genuine gigs in their home towns from their dreams for a better day, and by the willingness of the sold out houses in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, and the USA to be drawn into wonder and poetry and the kenning.”
They are nights in which love letters to life are written and read. There’s some boldness in them. They have that tone. These nights have the mark of our time upon them, and they’ve become timely, urgent, alert, steeped in mortal mystery, quixotic, with some swagger. What would you call such a thing? Nights of Grief & Mystery. Part poetry, part lamentation, part book reading, part ribaldry, part concert, part lifting the mortal veil and learning the mysteries there…that’s what’s in store—and some-thing you’ll not want to miss, or say you did.
About Stephen Jenkinson: Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW, RSW, is an internationally known teacher, author, storyteller, farmer, sculptor, musician, spiritual activist, ceremonialist, and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Ontario, Canada. He holds Masters’ degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work). A highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader, his work has been featured in national radio and television documentaries on care of the dying and wilderness creativity. He is the author of Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul, the award-winning book about grief, and dying, and the great love of life. He is the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary, Griefwalker. He brings teachings of the ramshackling kind, about honour and grace under pressure, about how we might learn our darkening times. His new book, Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble, wonders about elderhood in an age of age-intolerance, and about the withering World Tree. www.orphanwisdom.com
About Gregory Hoskins: Often described with epithets like “best kept secret”, “un-sung”, and “an artist that has flown under the radar”, Gregory Hoskins’ career spans 11 recordings over 27 years and record deals on three continents. Hoskin’s lyrics and voice tend to break and bind at the same time, songs steeped in the drama of living awake with one foot in the sorrow of it all and the other in the beauty of it all…and he does it over propulsive grooves, brooding electric guitar work, and rich sonics. Material from his most recent release https://gregoryhoskins.bandcamp.com/album/vain-alone-20 is featured in the Nights of Grief and Mystery. Please visit https://gregoryhoskins.bandcamp.com/ to listen.
Some audience responses
“What Stephen and Gregory were able to conjure is something rare and mysterious. A true gift…”
“Bravo. Hearts Broken. Hearts Mended. All on one Dark, Luminous Night.”
“I went and was absolutely blown away. I was incredibly moved and inspired by both Stephen’s words and Gregory and the band’s music. Thank you so much for sharing this unique and powerful work with us!”
Contact details:
Ruth Jones, Creative Director Holy Hiatus
07980901807
holyhiatuswales@gmail.com
www.holyhiatus.co.uk
‘Meditation For Today’ is a six week course at 
