COSMOTHEKA

Friday 27th December 2019

Melbourne Assembly Rooms

A BRAND NEW Cosmotheka! Sat 27 Dec at Melbourne Assembly Rooms... now the next generation is taking part and Dave Sealey is joined on stage by his son, multi-instrumentalist Dan Sealey performing a new duo show, recreating "a lot of the old songs, with a new twist! Dan - former bassist with Ocean Colour Scene and also member of Merrymaker, Merrymouth and currently member of The Rock Bottoms - brings his guitar skills and dry wit, to introduce a compelling new dimension to the Cosmotheka collaboration! ...From 1972 to 1999, brothers Dave & Al Sealey were Cosmotheka - performing the songs of the Halls, they were considered by many to be the finest interpreters of the genre and appeared at venues across the country and around the world. There were numerous radio series and television appearances, and their many fans included Roy Hudd, Bob Monkhouse and Chas & Dave. Their roots, however, remained firmly in the world of the people's entertainment: the upstairs room at the pub, the folk festival, the village hall. The Cosmotheka was a music hall in a less-than-salubrious area of Marylebone, London, between 1857 and 1869 - the curious word "cosmotheka" is apparently Greek for ‘the world is a stage’.As Al and Dave would usually explain at the start of their act...“It's a funny name, isn't it?  Sounds like a Greek fish & chip shop...The Cosmotheka was a music hall. It was a bit dirty, a bit seedy and a bit run-down... and we sing music hall songs, and we're a bit dirty, a bit seedy and a bit run-down!”

 Since the tragic death of Al in 1999, Dave Sealey has returned to the stage in many collaborations, and particularly a solo career, including one-man-shows of the work of two iconic performers: Stanley Holloway and Max Miller.​"In my opinion his portrayal of Max Miller... has taken Dave to new heights... [he] played Max Miller to perfection and brought the true magic of the music halls alive for the audience, who were all in stitches, with Max's good clean fun.”Steve Wilson [Miller's family member] '... among a very small band of peformers who can make us feel the power and perfection of our only true folk music - the Music of the Halls...' - Roy Hudd

www.cosmotheka.co.uk