Night Visit – behind the title!

Travel through the night, encounter spirits, visit heaven and hell, voyage beyond death with Night Visit, Saturday 12 October, 8pm, Rich Mix, London.

 Choosing a title is always hard! The title Night Visit has several meanings and strands of narrative in the performance. It describes my great-grandparents’ and grandparents’ explorations of the supernatural, and their experiences of ghosts and spirits. It evokes the dazzling visions of 18^th Century Swedish philosopher and mystic, Emmanuel Swedenborg, where he journeyed through the night to other worlds, speaking to angels and demons, surrendering himself to exploration of the supernatural in search of truth. It is also a genre of British folk song called ‘The Night Visiting Song’, and I sing a version in the performance.

 There are many versions of this song. Just last week musician Tim van Eyken and producer Julian May made a beautiful programme for Radio 4 about this genre of song. They explored the varieties, histories and meanings of night visiting songs, where a long lost lover comes back – but turns out to be a ghost.The song depicts love, loss and grief.

 I sing a Scottish version of the song. I learned this song over 20 years ago from Scottish traveller storyteller Duncan Williamson. I spent a couple of summer weeks with him, listing to stories and songs from the moment we woke up and he taught me a few precious songs. His version tells the story of a woman praying night after night for her lover who has been lost at sea. After seven years the woman hears a knocking at the window, and her lover appears. At first the women is very happy, but her lover does not look the same. And as a dawn breaks, he reveals that he is a ghost, and begs her to stop praying, so that his spirit can finally be released. Duncan’s pentatonic melody is unique, and sounded like none of the versions recorded for Radio 4. Which makes me think that it was part of the traveller tradition and did not have wide circulation. I have used the song in a layered way, linking it to the mass bereavement of the First World War when spiritualism increased, and to the efforts of science and photography which tried capture the invisible.

 Voyage with Night Visit into an immersive world of sound, séance, stories, and voices from the past.

Night Visit
Sally Pomme Clayton – story
Panos Ghikas – sound
Fotios Begklis – film
Saturday 12 October, 8.00pm
Rich Mix, 35 – 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, E1 6LA