Sea Cabinet

Music by Gwyneth Herbert and Fiona Bevan

Book by Heidi James

Sea Cabinet is a song cycle of linked songs about memory, obsession, love and the sea. A woman walks the beach alone, obsessively collecting every discarded and washed-up object she finds. She takes them home to catalogue each one with the care and rigor of a scientist. Each item sings with the memory of a secret sea-set story. Written and originally performed in England, this will be the U.S. premiere of the work. This 75-minute song cycle is performed in one-act with no intermission.

May 30 - June 9, 2019

The Southern Theater

1420 S. Washington Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55454

Enjoy some musical highlights from the production!

The Reviews are in!

Cherry and Spoon calls it "Truly a perfect 75 minutes of music-theater."

Twin Cities Stages says "The show’s strength is in it’s beautiful entrancing music."

Lavender Magazine says "Four soulful women performers bring sorrow, sweetness, and perfect pitch to Sea Cabinet’s forlornly beautiful essence."

Talkin' Broadway says "Sea Cabinet establishes hold over the audience from the first notes."

Minnesota Playlist says "As I was sitting in the audience and realizing what was happening, I was slowly filled with more and more delight!"

Cast & Creative

GWYNETH HERBERT is an award-winning British composer and lyricist, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. As a recording/performing artist she has released 6 critically-acclaimed albums (including the first UK Blue Note release in 30 years); toured extensively with her band across the UK, Europe, Canada, the US and Kenya; and has shared stages with artists such as Boy George, Amy Winehouse, and Jamie Cullum. Drawing on influences from the worlds of jazz, folk, contemporary classical music and storytelling, she performs with a variety of instruments and a “casually commanding voice – whether softly nuanced as confiding speech or at full soaring-contralto stretch” (The Guardian). Gwyneth is also increasingly in demand for her composition work, and featured as composer, lyricist, musical director and voice of the title role in the Bristol Old Vic’s hugely successful Christmas production of The Snow Queen. She has also co-created three musicals including The A-Z of Mrs P, The Sea Cabinet, and The Rhythm Method .

HEIDI JAMES’ novel So the Doves was published by Bluemoose Books in September 2017 and was named The Sunday Times Crime Novel of the Month. Her novel Woundingwas published (also by Bluemoose Books) in April, 2014. She was a finalist for the Cinnamon Poetry Collection Prize. Her novella The Mesmerist's Daughter (published by Neon Press in April 2015) won the Saboteur Award. Her novel Carbon, was published by Blatt in October 2009 and is published in Spanish by El Tercer Nombre. Carbon is currently being made into a film by British film company, Institute for Eyes. Her most recent collaboration with Gwyneth Herbert, The Sea Cabinet, attracted outstanding reviews from The Guardian, Vogue and The FT, among others. Her essays, poetry and short stories have appeared in various publications including Dazed and Confused, Next Level, and Flux. She has an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature and is the 2015 recipient of the Dr. Rajini Pani Outstanding Faculty Award.