From the Horse’s Mouth – January 2025

From the Horse’s Mouth is taking place across Cornwall and Isles of Scilly. This project saw teams of artists led by o-region’s Artistic Director Simon Harvey and lead writer Anna Maria Murphy undertaking a series of residencies in St Mary’s on Isles of Scilly, Bude, Launceston, Redruth and Penzance which explored what makes the places distinct to the people who live there. 

o-region hosted drop-in story-collecting sessions, art and craft activities, song composition, drama and writing workshops and conducted interviews with members of the community to explore the themes of place, family and home. Five established writers worked with nine emerging writers to run these sessions.

After working with 136 people across the five communities, the 14 writers created 81 original pieces of writing which have been performed across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly as live sharings. In addition newly formed band ‘Painted Horses’ wrote and recorded a new song ‘Wild White Horses’ inspired by these sessions and the project.

The stories from the community have also inspired the writing for o-region’s forthcoming theatre show, WHITE HORSE – based on the classic Michael Morpurgo book – which will be at the Regal Theatre in Redruth from 28 February to 8 March.

A selection of this new writing has now been recorded and will be released as podcasts from the end of January 2025 onwards, creating a treasure trove of Cornish community stories about what makes the place they live in distinct. The recordings are available from all digital podcast providers – simply search for ‘From the Horse’s Mouth’.

Writers included Sarah Dickenson, Lea Judge & Poppy Wonnacott (Bude/Poundstock), Amanda Harris, Jane Spurr & Roisin McCay-Hines (Launceston), Callum Mitchell & Jen Fletcher (Penzance/Trelya), Brett Harvey, Catrin Walker-Booth, Lucy Charleston & Tori Cannell (Redruth), Oliver Berry & Sophie Wainwright (Scilly) alongside sound designers Guy Connelly, Martin Skews, Ben Sutcliffe and Matt Thomason. 

The whole project is supported by the Shared Prosperity Fund, Arts Council England, Hall for Cornwall, FEAST and Michael Spiers.