The Prophecy Of Merlin
Welcome to an epic adventure story, an hour of fast moving storytelling by Mike O’Connor, with achingly beautiful music by Barbara Griggs. The year is 936. An ancient and precious Cornish book called Dargan a Verdhin (Prophecy of Merlin), traces the lineage of the kings of Cornwall, and is an icon of Cornish nationhood. Stolen by Saxons, its message suppressed, it lies in a monastery at Exeter. But the Saxon King Athelstan, hungry for land, obliges the Cornish to retreat from Exeter, thereby fixing the boundary of their province on the other side of the River Tamar. At once Britons east of the Tamar become refugees. Listen, and become part of their story. Join them, as refugees become fugitives. Follow their historic path to freedom, secretly bearing a priceless treasure; beset by danger, but sustained by the land and its legends. Music is integral to the telling of our tale and is exquisitely dovetailed into the performance. Melodies are linked with principal characters and events.
Mike O’Connor OBE is a well-known storyteller, with a deep knowledge of legend and folk tale, and great skill with language. A bard of Gorsedh Kernow, he is respected as a violinist, songwriter, and musicologist, and known to many for his music for TV’s Poldark.
Barbara Griggs is a skilled and sensitive musician and a fine storyteller. She too is a bard; and is also the Gorsedh harpist. Her harp music has been described as having ‘breath-taking beauty.’