BERTIE
THE PERFORMER
My performing life (pre-Covid!) Was mainly split between three groups. Bowjangles, the theatrical comedy string quartet, The BeauBowBelles and busking in Covent Garden with Lotus Classics, a flute and strings ensemble. From March 2020 this side of my career vanished for a while. This period of time has really made me recognise how much performing and making music with others is so much a part of my identity. 2021 actually started really well as Bowjangles received an Arts Council England grant to write and produce a new stage show, Dracula in Space, currently on tour. We are so excited to be getting out there again and are in love with this new absurd comedy musical that we have written!
A few months after Covid hit, my husband and I decided it was time to leave London with our two kids and dog. This was a tough decision for me as I counted myself as a Londoner after 24 years living there. We ended up moving to Cromer, North Norfolk where I grew up and I have to admit I am extremely happy to be back by the sea and have been reminded of my very deep North Norfolk roots. Leaving London meant the end of a 20+ year stint of busking in Covent Garden, a place and community that I hold very dear and that has played a huge role in my career and social life... but I have been delighted to discover that I enjoy solo busking in Cromer, come say hi if you see me!
Poppyland Songs has become a real focus for me in 2022 both as a composer, researcher, historian (!) and performer. I am taking bookings currently for a UK tour of Poppyland Songs. Head over to the Poppyland page for more info on the project and opportunities to get involved. Also, have a listen to my podcast!
BOWJANGLES
I have been the viola player, singer and MD of Bowjangles for nearly 13 years. We are a 4 piece ensemble of musicians that create our own comedy, musical, theatrical productions. From full scale musicals to 3 minute comedy songs. 2020 we had to refocus our output to online due to Covid, we'd never made the leap before as we are very much a live act. but it enabled us to discover new ways of reaching audiences which we have continued to do and our lockdown videos in 2020 garnered 265,000 online views!
We have an audio story book album of our recent award winning theatre show EXCALIBOW, available to buy from our website and all online streaming/download sites. And Dracula in Space is on tour, for dates and tickets plase visit our website.
The film is taken from our Cbeebies debut in early 2020. We reworked a section from our theatre show Excalibow to create an educational piece teaching kids Italian musical terms.
This is from our show "On the Box". I tell the weather through lyrics from famous songs.
the beaubowbelles
The BeauBowBelles were meant to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary in 2020 with lots of fun gigs and festivals but sadly all our shows were postponed or cancelled.. sadly we have no plans at the moment to be playing live again.. BUT all of our previous albums are available from the usual places and we have actual real CDs and T-shirts available from our website!
You can buy our albums either through our website or on all the usual streaming/download sites.
This is the music video for our song Weightless. I wrote these lyrics about fear. The ever present inner ugly voice that feeds anxiety. This is probably my favourite BBB song.
I wrote this song about the distance and loneliness I felt having young children. Feeling like an island. We recorded it pre Covid and lockdown but it reflected the feelings we were all having in early summer. Our producer, David Holmes went a bit Euro Vision on it but we love the vibe!